In the connected world, although societies are not directly involved in a military conflict, they are exposed to media reports of violence.

We assessed the effects of such exposures on mental health in Germany during the military conflict in Ukraine.

We used the German population-based cohort for digital health research, DigiHero, launching a survey on the eighth day of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Of the 27 509 cohort participants from the general population, 19 444 (70.7%) responded within 17 days. We measured mental health and fear of the impact of war compared with other fears (natural disasters or health-related).

In a subsample of 4441 participants assessed twice, anxiety in the population (measured by the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 screener) was higher in the first weeks of war than during the strongest COVID-19 restrictions. Anxiety was elevated across the whole age spectrum, and the mean was above the cut-off for mild anxiety. Over 95% of participants expressed various degrees of fear of the impact of war, whereas the percentage for other investigated fears was 0.47–0.82. A one-point difference in the fear of the impact of war was associated with a 2.5 point (95% CI 2.42–2.58) increase in anxiety (11.9% of the maximum anxiety score). For emotional distress, the increase was 0.67 points (0.66–0.68) (16.75% of the maximum score).

The population in Germany reacted to the Russo-Ukrainian war with substantial distress, exceeding reactions during the strongest restrictions in the COVID-19 pandemic. Fear of the impact of war was associated with worse mental health.

在互联世界中，虽然社会没有直接卷入军事冲突，但它们会暴露在媒体对暴力的报道中。

我们评估了乌克兰军事冲突期间此类暴露对德国心理健康的影响。

我们使用基于德国人口的队列进行数字健康研究，DigiHero，在俄乌战争的第八天发起了一项调查。在来自普通人群的 27 509 名队列参与者中，19 444 名 (70.7%) 在 17 天内做出了回应。我们将心理健康和对战争影响的恐惧与其他恐惧（自然灾害或与健康相关的恐惧）进行比较。

在两次评估的 4441 名参与者的子样本中，战争最初几周的人群焦虑（通过广泛性焦虑症 7 筛查仪测量）高于 COVID-19 最严格限制期间。整个年龄段的焦虑情绪都在升高，平均值高于轻度焦虑的临界值。超过 95% 的参与者表达了对战争影响的不同程度的恐惧，而其他调查的恐惧的百分比为 0.47–0.82。对战争影响的恐惧程度每差一分，焦虑就会增加 2.5 分 (95% CI 2.42–2.58)（占最大焦虑分数的 11.9%）。对于情绪困扰，增加了 0.67 分 (0.66–0.68)（最高分的 16.75%）。

德国民众对俄乌战争的反应非常痛苦，超过了 COVID-19 大流行最严格限制期间的反应。对战争影响的恐惧与较差的心理健康有关。