BMC Medical Education (May 2023)

High prevalence of mental disorder symptoms among medical and other health specialties residents during the COVID-19 pandemic

  • Nayane Miranda Silva,
  • Rebeca da Nobrega Lucena Pinho,
  • Thais Ferreira Costa,
  • Adriana Ferreira Barros Areal,
  • André De Mattos Salles,
  • Andrea Pedrosa Ribeiro Alves Oliveira,
  • Carlos Henrique Reis Esselin Rassi,
  • Caroline Elizabeth Brero Valero,
  • Ciro Martins Gomes,
  • Dayde Lane Mendonça da Silva,
  • Fernando Araujo Rodrigues de Oliveira,
  • Isadora Jochims,
  • Ivan Henrique Ranulfo Vaz Filho,
  • Juliana De Brito Seixas Neves,
  • Lucas Alves de Brito Oliveira,
  • Maria Luisa Nogueira Dantas,
  • Marta Alves Rosal,
  • Mayra Veloso Ayrimoraes Soares,
  • Patrícia Shu Kurizky,
  • Viviane Cristina Uliana Peterle,
  • Yasmin Furtado Faro,
  • Ana Paula Monteiro Gomides,
  • Licia Maria Henrique da Mota,
  • Cleandro Pires de Albuquerque,
  • Cezar Kozak Simaan,
  • Veronica Moreira Amado

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04202-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic put healthcare professionals, including residents (postgraduate trainees of health professions), under intense physical and psychological stress, hence at risk for mental disorders. We evaluated the prevalence of mental disorders among healthcare residents during the pandemic. Methods From July to September 2020, residents in medicine and other healthcare specialties in Brazil were recruited. The participants completed electronic forms with validated questionnaires (DASS-21, PHQ-9, BRCS) to screen for depression, anxiety, and stress, and to evaluate resilience. Data on potential predisposing factors for mental disorders were also collected. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared, students t, correlation and logistic regression models were applied. The study received ethical approval, and all participants provided informed consent. Results We included 1313 participants (51.3% medical; 48.7% nonmedical) from 135 Brazilian hospitals; mean (SD) age: 27.8 (4.4) years; 78.2% females; 59.3% white race. Of all participants, 51.3%, 53.4% and 52.6% presented symptoms consistent with depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively; 61.9% showed low resilience. Nonmedical residents exhibited higher anxiety compared to medical residents (DASS-21 anxiety score, mean difference: 2.26; 95% CI: 1.15–3.37; p < 0.001). In multivariate analyses, having any pre-existent, nonpsychiatric chronic disease was associated with higher prevalence of symptoms indicative of depression (odds ratio, OR: 2.05; 95% CI: 1.47–2.85, on DASS-21 | OR: 2.26; 95% CI: 1.59–3.20, on PHQ-9), anxiety (OR: 2.07; 95% CI: 1.51–2.83, on DASS-21), and stress (OR: 1.53; 95% CI: 1.12–2.09, on DASS-21); other predisposing factors were identified; by contrast, high resilience (BRCS score) was protective against symptoms of depression (OR 0.82; 95% CI: 0.79–0.85, on DASS-21 | OR 0.85; 95% CI: 0.82–0.88, on PHQ-9), anxiety (OR 0.90; 95% CI: 0.87–0.93, on DASS-21), and stress (OR 0.88; 95% CI: 0.85–0.91, on DASS-21); p < 0.05 for all outcomes. Conclusions We found a high prevalence of mental disorder symptoms among healthcare residents during COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Nonmedical residents exhibited higher levels of anxiety than medical ones. Some predisposing factors for depression, anxiety and stress among residents were identified.

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