Who suffered most after deaths due to COVID-19? Prevalence and correlates of prolonged grief disorder in COVID-19 related bereaved adults

Table 1 Demographic and loss-related information (N = 422)

Variable	M / n	SD / %
Age	32.73	9.31
Sex
Male	234	55.5%
Female	188	44.5%
Education
Junior secondary school and/or below	21	5.0%
Senior secondary school	66	15.6%
College	320	75.8%
Postgraduate and/or above	15	3.6%
Religious belief
No	395	93.6%
Yes^a	27	6.4%
Role of deceased
Partner	139	32.9%
Child	24	5.7%
Parent	97	23.0%
Grandparent	69	16.4%
Relative^b	22	5.2%
Friend	64	15.2%
Other^c	7	1.7%
Age of deceased	47.81	21.55
Time since loss in months	5.10	1.72
Cause of death
COVID-19	408	96.7%
COVID-19 related complication^d	14	3.3%
Unexpectedness of death	3.67	1.23
Traumatic level of loss	3.86	0.97
Closeness with deceased	4.15	0.88
Conflict with deceased	1.76	1.11
PGD symptom levels	41.58	9.60
< 6 months post-loss^e	41.37	9.61
≥ 6 months post-loss^f	41.85	9.61
PCBD symptom levels	54.07	12.28
< 6 months post-loss^e	53.64	12.36
≥ 6 months post-loss^f	54.61	12.19

Note. M Mean, SD Standard Deviation, PGD Prolonged Grief Disorder, PCBD Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder
^a Religious belief included Buddhism (n = 17), Taoism (n = 3), Catholicism (n = 3), Christianism (n = 3), and Islamism (n = 1)
^b Relative included uncle (n = 5), aunt (n = 4), cousin (n = 4), grandaunt (n = 3), granduncle (n = 1), great grandmother (n = 1), and not specified (n = 4)
^c Other relationship included colleagues (n = 4), acquaintance (n = 2), and not specified (n = 1)
^d COVID-19 related complication included heart disease (n = 2), fever (n = 2), acute respiratory distress syndrome (n = 1), asthma (n = 1), cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (n = 1), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n = 1), diabetes (n = 1), high blood pressure (n = 1), liver cancer (n = 1), lung cancer (n = 1), obesity (n = 1), and respiratory failure (n = 1)
^e n = 234
^f n = 188

ISSN: 1744-8603