Abstract
Working conditions, work-related stressors and high risk of infection, as well as the fear of contagion and spreading the disease to family members, may have influenced dentists’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anxiety levels among Polish and Turkish dentists during the COVID-19 pandemic and to investigate any relevant predictors. The study was an anonymous online questionnaire-based cross-sectional study that was conducted among dentists from two countries: Poland and Turkey. In total 400 dentists (200 from each country) participated in the study. The survey consisted of two parts: part 1 comprised demographic data, including age, gender, country of origin, COVID-19 infection history, place of work and lockdown history; part 2 was based on the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The mean trait and state anxiety levels of the Polish dentists was statistically significantly lower than that of the Turkish dentists (p = 0.000; p < 0.05). However, Polish dentists had higher state anxiety levels than trait levels, while both types of anxiety among Turkish dentists were almost at the same level. The number of dentists who suffered from COVID-19 was found to be statistically significantly higher in Poland (54%) than in Turkey (16%) (p = 0.000; p < 0.05). The percentage of dentists reporting anxiety was 51% in Poland and 95.5% in Turkey. Polish dentists reported a lower mean anxiety level during the COVID-19 pandemic than the dentists in Turkey but their anxiety levels were more affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as they had a higher difference between their state and trait anxiety levels. The higher coronavirus infection rate and lack of governmental lockdowns of dental practices during the pandemic in Poland compared with those in Turkey may explain the difference in the state and trait anxiety levels.
Highlights
The results reported that a break at work caused by the fear of COVID-19 infection elicited a statistically significantly higher level of state and trait anxieties among Polish dentists (64.88; p = 0.001 and 68,96; p = 0.001), while this correlation among Turkish dentists was not statistically significant (p = 0.497 and p = 0.139)
Multivariate logistic regression of the current study revealed that COVID-19-related breaks at work raised the possibility of clinically significant state anxiety among Polish dentists by a factor of 9.128
The present study reported that Polish and Turkish dentists were suffering from anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
Numerous studies have shown that among the COVID-19 mental health consequences, anxiety and depressive disorders played a crucial role [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. Anxiety is a normal reaction to uncertainty and in the short term prepares an individual to face an intense situation by increasing breathing and heart rate, as well as blood flow to the brain. An excessive or persistent state of anxiety can have a devastating effect on physical and mental health. Long-term anxiety is harmful for mental and physical health and leads to the release of stress hormones on a regular basis, which can increase the frequency of symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and depression [2,3,4,5]
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