Evaluating Covid-19 Related Health Anxiety Among Individuals Referring To Urban Health Centers in Arak, Iran: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background and aims: the prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (covid19) resulted in health anxiety among general population and unreasonable referring to health centers. this study aimed to assess health anxiety related to covid19 in individuals referring to healthcare centers of arak, iran in 2020. methods: using convenient sampling method, the participants of this cross sectional study were selected from 16 urban health centers of arak. salkovskis 18 item health anxiety inventory (hai18) was completed by 392 participants. the collected data entered in spss software version 24 and was analyzed by mann-whitney u and kruskal-wallis tests. results: mean ± sd of total score of health anxiety was 28.96 ± 7.62. most participants (74.7%) had medium anxiety and 19.1% had high anxiety. the mean of total score of health anxiety was higher in the 3059 age range, higher education, single people and students. participants with chronic diseases and symptoms of cold and people who referred to health centers due to covid19 screening had a higher anxiety level. conclusion: most people referring to health centers of arak had moderate anxiety. covid19related health anxiety was higher in middle age range, higher education, students, people with chronic diseases, and people with symptoms of common cold.