Can living with COVID-19 patients in a hospital increase anxiety levels? A survey-based single-center study in Peru
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Jeel Moya-Salazar 1 2 3 * , Walter Saciga-Saavedra 1 4 , Betsy Cañari 1 5 , Karina Chicoma-Flores 5 , Hans Contreras-Pulache 6 *
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1 School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, Universidad Norbert Wiener, Lima, PERU2 Department of Pathology, Hospital Nacional Docente Madre Niño San Bartolome, Lima, PERU3 Graduate School, Universidad Norbert Wiener, Lima, PERU4 Nurse Service, Villa Panamericana, Lima PERU5 +Mental Health Unit, Nesh Hubbs, Lima, PERU6 South America Center for Education and Research in Public Health, Universidad Norbert Wiener, Lima, PERU* Corresponding Author

anxiety, health professionals, COVID-19, Peru, mental health, SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

Introduction: Anxiety can affect front-line healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic mainly in settings with influencing factors. Living with COVID-19 patients in hospital settings could affect mental health during lockdown. The present study aimed to estimate the anxiety levels of HCWs of the care center for COVID-19 Villa Panamericana during the first outbreak of COVID-19 in Peru.
Methods: This is a descriptive and correlational study. Ninety-six HCWs were enrolled in this study (mean age 30±5.6 years). The care center for COVID-19 Villa Panamericana houses COVID-19 patients and HCWs in the same environment. We used the 14-item Hamilton anxiety rating scale questionnaire. Professionals were interviewed directly at the VP-19 rest towers. SPSS V.23 were used to analyze the data.
Results: Fifty-four (56.3%) were male and the most frequent age group was 26-35 years (81.3%). Thirty-nine (40.6%) were nurses, 28 (29.2%) were nursing technicians, 15 (15.6%) were physicians, and 14 (14.6%) were medical technologists. Of the total, 66 (68.8%) HCWs had a mild level of anxiety, while 6 (6.3%) had severe anxiety. Medical technologists and nursing technicians had the highest level of severe anxiety (14.3% and 7.1%), while nurses had the highest level of mild anxiety (76.9%). We report that 32 (33.3%) HCWs had COVID-19 while 93.7% had symptoms of anxiety [3(9.4%) mild to moderate, 21(65.6 %) moderate to severe, and 6(18.8%) severe]. We found a significant difference in anxiety levels between HCWs with and without COVID-19 (p=0.001).
Conclusions: Levels of moderate and severe anxiety significantly increased in HCWs infected with COVID-19 during their coexistence with COVID-19 patients in the health center that houses both at the same time.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Original Article

ELECTRON J GEN MED, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2022, Article No: em389

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/12140

Publication date: 03 Jun 2022

Article Views: 1368

Article Downloads: 1024

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