Stress and autonomic dysfunction symptoms related to voice in Brazilian university professors during the covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective To analyze the association of autonomic dysfunction symptoms with stress in Brazilian university professors of the Speech Language–Pathology course during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods Fifty-five Brazilian university professors participated in the study, with a mean age of 42 years and 10 months old (±8.75), 49 female and six male subjects. The evaluated outcomes were the symptoms of stress and self-assessment of autonomic dysfunction symptoms. The results were inferentially analyzed using binary logistic regression and chi-squared tests (p < .05). Results In 54.54% of the university professors presented stress, with a predominance of psychological symptoms and a higher frequency resistance phase. Stress was a risk factor for the high occurrence of autonomic dysfunction symptoms related (OR 5.841) and unrelated (OR 29.750) to voice. There was an association between the predominance of psychological symptoms and the higher occurrence of autonomic dysfunction symptoms related to voice (p < .001). Conclusions There was an association between autonomic dysfunction symptoms and stress in Brazilian university professors during the Covid-19 pandemic.