*3.3. Physical Symptoms in the Past 14 Days and Psychological Distress*

Regarding the presence of symptoms in the 14 days prior to participation in the study, the following was distribution was obtained (Table 3): headache (46.6%), coryza (30.1%), myalgia (24.7%), cough (15.3%), sore throat (14.7%), and to a lesser extent, subjects reported suffering from diarrhea (9.7%), dizziness (9.7%), chills (5.2%), dyspnea (3.6%), and fever above 38 ◦C for at least one day (1.1%).

**Table 3.** Association between physical symptoms in the past 14 days and psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic (*n* = 2120).


For all variables described in Table 3, statistically significant differences were found between the presence of physical symptoms and psychological distress (*p* < 0.005), excluding respiratory distress (*p* = 0.082) and fever (>38 ◦C for at least 1 day) (*p* = 0.319).

Statistically significant differences were also observed for the mean number of symptoms (χ<sup>2</sup> <sup>=</sup> −13.150, *<sup>p</sup>* < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.559), with a mean effect size. The group of subjects with psychological distress had a higher number of symptoms (M = 1.58, SD = 1.55) compared to the group without this psychological morbidity (M = 0.80, SD = 1.16).

#### *3.4. Health-Related Variables and Psychological Distress*

Regarding health-related variables, the results show (Table 4) that 29% of the respondents reported having a chronic disease, and that 35.8% of the respondents are currently taking medication. In the same way, 0.4% of the subjects referred to having been hospitalized in the last 14 days, and 5.3% referred to having received health care in a health center, clinic, or hospital, while 4.5% of the participants had symptoms of COVID-19 and 18.1% reported diagnostic testing.

**Table 4.** Association between health-related variables and psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic (*n* = 2120).


Note: \* Likert-type scale from 1 (very bad) to 5 (very good); \*\* Fisher's exact test.

All the variables described in Table 4 are related to the presence of psychological distress, excluding recent hospitalization in the last 14 days (χ<sup>2</sup> = 1.568, *p* = 0.211, Cohen's d = 0.027).

Considering the subjects' assessment of their self-perceived health in the last 14 days, statistically significant differences were also found between the two groups (t = 11.930, *p* < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.520), with a mean effect size. The group of subjects without psychological distress (M = 4.26, SD = 0.73) expressed a better self-perception of their health compared to the group with psychological distress (M = 3.85, SD = 0.83), although both groups have good self-rated health in the last 14 days (M = 4.02, SD = 0.81).
