Effects of public perceived stress on quality of life in public health emergencies: the mediating effect of anxiety and depression

Objective To explore the mediating effect of anxiety and depression between public perceived stress and quality of life. Methods A nationwide questionnaire survey was conducted from February 10 to March 10, 2020. The self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), self-rating depression scale (SDS), stress scale (PSS-10) and health-related quality of life scale (SF-12) were used to evaluate anxiety, depression, perceived stress and health-related quality of life. Then, Pearson correlation analysis, stepwise regression analysis, and intermediary effect were analyzed. Results The score of quality of life, perceived stress, anxiety and depression was (49.53±6.24), (13.00±6.93), (39.59±9.38) and (42.06±12.07), respectively. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that perceived stress was negatively correlated with quality of life (r=-0.681, P<0.01), and positively correlated with anxiety and depression (r1=0.758, r2=0.678, P<0.01); anxiety and depression were negatively correlated with quality of life (r1=-0.698, r2=-0.703, P<0.01). The intermediary effect analysis suggested that anxiety and depression played a partial intermediary role between perceived stress and quality of life in public health emergencies. The proportion of intermediary effect was 35% and 41%, respectively. Conclusions In public health emergencies, people can not only directly predict the quality of life through perceived stress, but also indirectly predict the quality of life through the mediation of anxiety and depression.