Introduction:
The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a public health emergency that represents a challenge to psychological health (1). Saudi Arabia is among the most affected countries in the Middle East with 229,480 confirmed cases and 2181 related deaths as of the 12th of July 2020 (2).To respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia has taken preventive precautions including quarantine measures, suspending education at schools and universities before starting distance learning and virtual classrooms later, and closing the mosques including the Holy Mosque of Mecca (3, 4)
Literature showed that such measures can result in several psychological problems (5), and students, in particular, are more vulnerable (6). In addition, isolation from campus life, the need to adapt to the new online educational environment, and the uncertainty about the academic and occupational future can carry additional burdens (5, 7-9). A study in Jordan, , found that the level of anxiety among university students was higher than in medical professions and the general population (6). Other studies conducted on university students from China and Spain showed varying degrees of psychological problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic (1, 10-13)
Despite the urgency of this topic worldwide, the psychological problems among university students in Saudi Arabia were not assessed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Determining the psychological impacts of the COVID-19 on university students and the correlating factors can help in initiating risk-prevention procedures and counseling programs to relieve this burden. Herein, we investigated the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among university students in Umm AlQura University in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia and studied the associating factors