Impact on the mental health of the pandemic of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the participants of the Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brazil) of the state of São Paulo

In late 2019, a new pathogen called SARS-CoV-2 (also referred to as "COVID-19" or "new coronavirus") was identified in Wuhan, China. The disease spread rapidly around the world, being characterized as a pandemic by the WHO in March 2020. Twenty percent of patients with this infection have severe or critical forms, particularly in those with advanced age or comorbidities. With the exponential increase in new cases and deaths associated with COVID-19, intensive quarantine measures were adopted. In Brazil, the state of São Paulo is the region that most registers cases of the disease and deaths, leading the government to decree quarantine across the state in the last week of March 2020. Faced with this scenario of social distance and home isolation, innumerable psychiatric and psychological repercussions can occur. In this context, we propose a prospective study to assess the psychiatric and psychological repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic in the 4150 participants in the Longitudinal Study on Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil) followed at the São Paulo Research Center, in 4 evaluations to be carried out during the pandemic, online. The questionnaire will assess, using self-applicable scales, depressive and anxious symptoms, suicide, increased stress, protective factors and risk factors of this population during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, participants with self-rated mental health as "poor" will be invited to participate in a randomized clinical trial evaluating the effectiveness and safety of group vs. group psychotherapy. supervised group activities ("iPsico program"), via call center, in the reduction of depressive and anxious symptoms. Finally, we will provide psychiatric consultations online for participants with acute suicidal ideation or who refer to mental health as bad. (AU)