Binge eating disorder experienced by young doctors struggling with COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction The COVID19 outbreak has disrupted the mental health of resident doctors who had to care for patients. Eating disorders were among these reported mental health problems. Objectives To screen binge eating disorder among young Tunisian doctors and its associated factors. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical online-based survey, from April 19, 2020, to May 5, 2020 on 180 medical residents in training. We sent the survey via a google form link. We used a self-administered anonymous questionnaire containing sociodemographic and clinical data of young doctors. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria were used to assess Binge-Eating Disorder. Results Among 180 young doctors who enrolled the survey, 70,2% were female, 16% were married. The mean age was 29 years. 51,1% were frontline caregivers, working directly in diagnosing, treating or caring for patients with coronavirus disease. Among our participants, 5% presented anxiety disorder, another 5 % presented depression disorder and 1,7% had eating disorder. Binge eating disorder were present among 8,9 % of participants and it was associated to personal history of eating disorder (7,7% vs 1,1%, p<10-3), past history of depression disorder (7,2% vs 3,3%, p=0.008), exposure to media or news about coronavirus outbreak (0.5% vs 8,3%, p=0.04). Conclusions Our study indicated the evolving proportion of binge eating disorder among young doctors. Screening eating disorder is important in order to prevent related physical health problems.

Keywords

• young doctors
• binge eating disorder
• COVID19
• mental health