COVID-19-related anxiety disorders in health care professionals
Keywords:
anxiety, COVID-19, health personnel, mental health, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, occupational health.Abstract
Objective: To determine the prevalence and severity of generalized anxiety symptoms among health professionals who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic at a Type B Health Center in Riobamba, Ecuador, and to describe their distribution according to professional and sociodemographic characteristics. Method: Epidemiological, quantitative, observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study. The available universe of 19 health professionals was assessed. The 14-item Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale was used to evaluate psychological and somatic manifestations. Frequencies and percentages were calculated. Results: Overall, 84.2% presented some level of anxiety; 42.1% had mild anxiety and 42.1% moderate/severe anxiety, whereas 15.8% showed no compatible symptoms. Anxiety was more frequent among women (68.4% of the total sample), nursing assistants (31.6%), physicians (21.1%), participants aged 20–30 years (31.6%), and single participants (36.8%). The most frequent manifestations were worry (84.2%), tension (78.9%), muscular complaints (73.7%), gastrointestinal symptoms (73.7%), autonomic/tension headache symptoms (68.5%), sensory symptoms (63.2%), and depressed mood (63.2%). Conclusion: A high burden of anxiety symptoms was observed in this population. Because of the cross-sectional design, small population, and absence of a comparison group, the findings describe the phenomenon in the studied setting and do not support individual causal attribution to pandemic exposure.
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