Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on women’s mental and physical health

  • Authors

    • Sonali Das Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University, ‎ Bhubaneswar‎
    • Somadatta Das Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University, ‎ Bhubaneswar‎ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5781-5839
    • Sthitaprajna Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University, ‎ Bhubaneswar‎
    • Chitrita Prusty Department of English, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be ‎ University, Bhubaneswar
    • Prachishri Mishra Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University, ‎ Bhubaneswar‎
    • Mousumi Dash Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University, ‎ Bhubaneswar‎
    https://doi.org/10.14419/0y1ehm17

    Received date: April 12, 2025

    Accepted date: June 7, 2025

    Published date: June 9, 2025

  • COVID-19; Mental Health; Physical Health; Coping Mechanisms

  • Abstract

    The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the physical as well as mental health not only at the ‎individual level, but also at the communal echelon throughout the world. It has adversely impacted ‎women more than men, both as household managers and frontline workers, even though the death ‎rate for males has been twice as high as for women. Effective measures and robust support systems ‎are needed to understand the pandemic's immediate and long-term effects on women's health. This ‎study describes the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on women's demographics in general and ‎physical and mental health in particular. This research has also enrolled women in questionnaires for proper health evaluations, focusing on both physical and mental health outcomes. Age categories, work status, and socioeconomic position have been analyzed minutely ‎before and throughout the epidemic, along with BMI, blood pressure, physical activity, as well as ‎sleep cycle. Various psychological matrices like anxiety, sadness, and stress have also been ‎measured. To find accurate information, statistical analyses have been carried out. The ‎demographic profile has been used to showcase participants' age, occupation, and socioeconomic ‎distribution. The pandemic has not only affected BMI, blood pressure, physical activity, and sleep ‎quality, but also has significantly impacted women’s physical and mental health, which is quite ‎evident in this study. The COVID-19 epidemic may not have substantially influenced the physical ‎health of women in the examined group due to the smaller sample size, but the effect is quite ‎noteworthy for a larger population. The pandemic indicators used in this study might not have ‎strongly predicted the possible mental health outcomes, still it cannot be ignored, taking long-term effects into account. However, these findings may not apply to all women, as ‎extensive demographic, physical, and mental health studies on women along with the COVID-19 ‎pandemic are further required for a better assessment of the possible consequences of the ‎pandemic. This would assist in determining the overall effect of the pandemic and ‎identifying characteristics that may affect different groups of the targeted population.

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  • How to Cite

    Das, S., Das, S., Sthitaprajna, Prusty, C. ., Mishra , P. ., & Dash, M. . (2025). Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on women’s mental and physical health. International Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 14(2), 29-33. https://doi.org/10.14419/0y1ehm17