Piumatti, Giovanni Amati, Rebecca Richard, Aude Baysson, Hélène Purgato. Marianna Guessous, Idris Stringhini, Silvia Albanese, Emiliano 2022 (1) Mental health may modulate the perceived risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, it is unclear how psychological symptoms may distort symptom perception of COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 infection. We assessed whether depressive symptoms predicted self-reported COVID-19 symptoms, independently of serologically confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. (2) Participants (aged 20–64) in the Geneva (N = 576) and Ticino (N = 581) Swiss regions completed the Patient Health Questionnaire before being tested for anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies and recalled COVID-19-compatible symptoms on two occasions: April–July 2020 (baseline), and January–February 2021 (follow-up). We estimated prevalence ratios for COVID-19 symptoms by depression scores in interaction with serological status. (3) At baseline, in Geneva, higher depression predicted higher probability of reporting systemic, upper airways, and gastro-intestinal symptoms, and fever and/or cough; in Ticino, higher depression predicted systemic, upper airways, and gastro-intestinal symptoms, fever and/or cough, dyspnea, and headache. At follow-up, in Geneva, higher depression predicted higher probability of reporting systemic symptoms and dyspnea; in Ticino, higher depression predicted higher probability of reporting systemic and upper airways symptoms, dyspnea and headache (all p values < 0.05). (4) We found positive associations between depressive symptoms and COVID-19-compatible symptoms, independently of seropositivity. Mental wellbeing has relevant public health implications because it modulates self-reported infection symptoms that inform testing, self-medication, and containment measures, including quarantine and isolation. application/pdf https://susi.usi.ch/global/documents/331765 https://localhost:5000/ark:/12658/srd1331765 https://susi.usi.ch/documents/331765/files/Albanese_2022_MDPI_ijerph_Associations between depression.pdf eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3390/ijerph192416696 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/ark/12658/srd1331765 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC BY International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - 2022, vol. 19, p. 16696 COVID-19 Depressive symptoms Seropositivity Population-based observational study info:eu-repo/classification/udc/61 Associations between depression and self-reported COVID-19 symptoms among adults : results from two population-based seroprevalence studies in Switzerland http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501