Abstract
Coronavirus pandemic began in China in 2019 (COVID-19), causing not only public health problems but also great psychological distress, especially for physicians involved in coping with the virus or those of the risk group in social isolation, and this represents a challenge for the psychological resilience in the world population. Studies showed that health professionals had psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, stress, among others. To investigate the quality of sleep and the prevalence rate of sleeping disorders among physicians during COVID-19 pandemic, and identify the psychological and social factors associated with the condition. A cross-sectional study of an online questionnaire was applied for physicians in Brazil. Among the 332 participants included, 227 were women. Sociodemographic assessment was used in the questionnaire, as well as the scale of impact on the events of modifications caused by COVID-19, assessment on sleep quality (PSQI), presence and severity of insomnia (ISI), depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), and anxiety (GAD-7). Most physicians (65.6%) had changes in sleep. Poor sleep quality was reported by 73.1%, depressive symptoms were present in 75.8%, and anxiety in 73.4%. Our study found that more than 70% of the physicians assessed had impaired sleep quality, characterizing insomnia symptoms during COVID-19 outbreak. Related factors included an environment of isolation, concerns about COVID-19 outbreak and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Special interventions are needed to promote health professionals' mental well-being and implement changes in this scenario.
Highlights
Coronavirus pandemic began in China in 2019 (COVID-19), causing public health problems and great psychological distress, especially for physicians involved in coping with the virus or those of the risk group in social isolation, and this represents a challenge for the psychological resilience in the world population
31% had their function modified to meet the demand to care for patients with COVID-19 and 3% were removed from their duties because they belonged to a risk group
Several factors are possibly associated with physical and mental stress to which health professionals are exposed in pandemic situations such as COVID-19: the medical team often needs to have personal protective equipment (PPE) for 12 hours or more on duty, including doublelayer protective equipment, masks, gloves, cloaks, caps and goggles[16]
Summary
Coronavirus pandemic began in China in 2019 (COVID-19), causing public health problems and great psychological distress, especially for physicians involved in coping with the virus or those of the risk group in social isolation, and this represents a challenge for the psychological resilience in the world population. The situation aggravated due to insufficient control measures and the lack of effective therapeutic approaches, in addition to the precarious public health infrastructure[1,3] These uncertainties have had consequences in several sectors in the routine of people’s life, with direct implications on individuals’ mental health especially among health professionals as they had to deal with the extremely adverse context of this new disease[3]. This high psychological burden has already been reported by health professionals in Wuhan, where the virus began, and in other regions in China[4]
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