COVID-19 has disturbed mental health to a great extent. Lockdowns, re-infections in fully
vaccinated people, frequent mutations of the virus, working from home, shutting of school
colleges, contradictory information flying in the air, and so on are some serious predisposing
factors in deteriorating the mental health. The Indian Govt. has granted the telemedicine model of
healthcare in the country. Mobile health (mHealth) adds to it effectively and Lyfas is such a
smartphone-based instrument that works using the principle of arterial photoplethysmography and
photochromatography. It captures short (120 sec) heart rate variability (HRV) and the allied optical
biomarkers that surrogate for the cardiovascular autonomic modulation, which is influenced by
mental health issues. The study aims to validate Lyfas optical biomarkers (SD1/SD2, LF/HF,
pNN50, and HRVscores) and a set of physical parameters e.g., age, HR, BP โ systolic and diastolic,
and serum cortisol in addressing the mental health state. A total of RTPCR positive 1130 adults
(Male 541, Female 589) within the age group of 27-68 yrs. participated in the study. Till the
participants became RTPCR negative (average time of 14 days), the Depression-Anxiety-Stress
Screening-21 (DASS-21) and Covid Screening Scale (CSS)-based monitoring is done once daily
to note the distress levels, and Lyfas tests are taken thrice daily simultaneously. The average of all
scores constructs the experimental data. Internal consistency (Cronbachโs ฮฑ), normality test
(Shapiro Wilkis test), and Spearmanโs correlations (ฯ) and their respective statistical significance
(p<0.05, CI: 95%) are computed. The study concludes that Lyfas biomarkers show strong
correlations with that of the DASS-21 and CSS scores. Physical parameters are also corroborative
to the result.
Validating Lyfas as a reliable mental health screening and monitoring instrument a step towards mobile health application during COVID-19 Pandemic
