Prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in brazilian health professionals during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The coronavirus outbreak 2019 (COVID-19) has overloaded healthcare professionals with a significant amount of stress. Objectives: The aim of this study is to analyze demographic and sentiments in healthcare providers associated with the exposure to patients with COVID-19. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted with data remotely obtained in the period between March 20, to September 20 through a project created in March 2020 named TELEPAN Saúde UFMG, which redirects healthcare workers to volunteer psychologists, psychiatrists and other professionals. Summary of the main complaint, profession, workplace, preferred time for contact and preference media for contact were obtained from each patient. Sentiments were grouped into categories. Then, an exploratory and descriptive analysis were conducted. Results: The median age of patients was 36 years of age (21 to 64). Most professionals were women (85.45%) and came from primary care, emergency services, or secondary level of care (hospitals). Primary care professionals had a higher median of age, while those working on emergency establishments had the lowest. Suicidal thoughts or emergent needs were present in 7.27% of cases. Minas Gerais (southeast region) had the highest number of patients. A significant proportion of providers suffered from symptoms of anxiety and exhaustion (11.82%), followed by sadness with anxiety. Insomnia affected 17 professionals (15.45%), and fear of being infected, 8 patients (7.27%). Conclusions: Middle-aged female healthcare professionals, mainly from primary care establishments in Brazil, were the most affected workers by anxiety, exhaustion and insomnia during COVID-19 outbreak.