Introduction:

Quarantine and social isolation are the actions most recommended by health authorities with the aim of reducing social interaction between people and reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection in the community. However, these restrictions and limitations can have consequences on the health-related quality of life of young adults.

Objective:

To compare the self-reported quality of life between a pandemic-free environment versus a context of COVID-19 pandemic in young adults.

Methods:

Retrospective study; 157 young adults (63 women and 94 men) between 18 and 28 years old answered the SF-36 health questionnaire in 2 situations: context without pandemic (September 2019) and context of pandemic (April 2020). The SF-36 includes 36 questions grouped into 8 items: physical function, physical role, body pain, general health, vitality, social function, emotional role, and mental health.

Results:

When comparing the evaluations between the contexts with and without a pandemic, a decrease in the quality of life was observed in the vitality dimensions (p = 0,004), social function (p = 0,001), emotional role (p = 0,001), health mental (p = 0,003) and general health (p = 0,001). The most altered dimensions were emotional role and general health, which decreased by 39,5 % and 21,0 %, respectively.

Conclusions:

This study determined that the health-related quality of life of young adults is diminished in context of quarantine by COVID-19, mainly in the psychological and social dimensions.

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