ANSIEDADE NA PANDEMIA: UM ESTUDO SOBRE OS IMPACTOS NA SAÚDE MENTAL DE PROFISSIONAIS DA SAÚDE DURANTE O CONTÁGIO DE COVID-19 NO BRASIL

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic represented not only a health emergency, but a mental health catastrophe. The aim of the study was to investigate the occurrence of anxiety symptoms in health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic, identifying and describing the symptoms experienced during this period. This is a quantitative survey, where 102 participants answered an online questionnaire and the data were tabulated in an Excel spreadsheet and analyzed using the STATA® 13 software (Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, USA). As a result, it was possible to notice that the prevalence of anxiety in the present study sample was 74.5%, with no statistically significant differences between genders. About age, a specific age group with a higher risk of developing anxiety symptoms was not identified. The factors significantly associated with anxiety by univariate regression were: depression (OR=3.21, 95% CI=1-10.26), Insomnia (OR=3.45, 95% CI-1.33 - 8.93), Annoyance with too little or too much information (OR =3.08 95% CI=1.23 - 7.73), Irritability (OR= 4.45, 95% CI=1.4 - 14.17) and fear of returning to work (OR=5, 95% CI=1.38 - 18.13). The only factor associated with anxiety by multivariate regression in this study was fear of returning to work (OR=3.84 95% CI=0.99 - 14.78). Understanding the factors closely related to anxiety in health professionals arising from the pandemic situation is extremely important so that emotional support measures are adopted in order to mitigate the impacts arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing the risk of mental illness which will occur with the prolonged absence, disability and psychological suffering of health professionals.