BackgroundThis study aimed at examining the combined outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic and a collapsing economy on the quality of life (QOL) of the general Lebanese population.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted from 10-18 May 2020, via an online-based questionnaire using the snowball sampling technique. It enrolled 502 adult participants.ResultsThe QOL had a mean of 14.80[14.37;15.24]. A lower QOL was associated with female gender (beta=-1.533[-2.324;-0.743]), university education (beta=-2.119[-3.353;-0.885]), fear of COVID-19 (beta=-0.131[-0.199;-0.063]), fear of poverty (beta=-0.232[-0.402;-0.063]), verbal violence at home (beta=-3.464[-5.137;-1.790]), and chronic disease (beta=-1.307[-2.283;-0.330]). Better family satisfaction (beta=0.380[0.235;0.525]) and better financial situation (beta=0.029[0.003;0.055]) were significantly correlated with better QOL. In the subsample of workers/looking for a job, additional factors affected QOL: physical exercise (beta=1.318[0.370;2.265]) was associated with better QOL, while previous waterpipe smoking, being self-employed before the crisis (beta=-1.22[-2.208;-0.231]), working from home since the economic crisis (-1.853[-3.692;-0.013]), closure of the institution (beta=-1.201[-2.607;0.204]), and worrying about long-term effects of the crisis on one's employment status (beta=-0.433[-0.650;-0.216]) were associated lower QOL; the fear of COVID-19 was not significantly associated with QOL (p>0.05).ConclusionThis study showed that during the pandemic, economic and other factors, directly or indirectly related to COVID-19, significantly affected quality of life. The fear of COVID-19 and fear of poverty mainly impacted the QOL of the general population; however, the fear of COVID-19 lost its significance among workers, who reported that factors negatively affecting their QOL are directly related to their employment and the already collapsing economy in Lebanon.
