Mental health and illness of medical students and newly graduated doctors during the pandemic of SARS-Cov-2/COVID-19

• Published in: PloS one 2021-05, Vol.16 (5), p.e0251525-e0251525
• Main Authors: Ferreira, Lis Campos, Amorim, Rívia Siqueira, Melo Campos, Fellipe Matos, Cipolotti, Rosana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcohol use; Anxiety; Anxiety disorders; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Biology and Life Sciences; Bipolar disorder; Care and treatment; Comparative analysis; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; Eating disorders; Fear & phobias; Health aspects; Health sciences; Illnesses; Infections; Injury prevention; Medical students; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental health; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Pandemics; People and Places; Physicians; Post traumatic stress disorder; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Psychological aspects; Psychological stress; Questionnaires; Response rates; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Social Sciences; Sociodemographics; Viral diseases; Viruses; World population
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251525

SARS-Cov-2 virus pandemic causes serious emotional consequences. It has occurred widespread medical courses suspension, and graduations were anticipated. Field hospitals, set up to treat patients with mild to moderate COVID-19, were the main workplaces of newly graduated doctors. To assess the impact of SARS-Cov-2/COVID-19 pandemic on mental health of medical interns and newly graduated doctors. This is a cross-sectional study performed using a digital platform. Links to forms were sent in two moments: moment 1 (M1), at the beginning of the pandemic, in the first half of April/2020 and moment 2 (M2), after six months of pandemic, in the second half of September/2020. All students from the medical internship and all doctors graduated since 2018 from the three medical schools in Sergipe-NE-Brazil were invited. 335 forms were answered in April and 148 in September. In M1 88.9% considered themselves exposed to excess of information about COVID-19, which was associated with anxiety symptoms (p = 0.04). Long family physical distance was also associated with these symptoms, as increased appetite (p = 0.01), feeling shortness of breath (p = 0.003) and sweating (p = 0.007). Fear of acquire COVID-19 was reported as intense by almost half of participants, and of transmitting by 85.7% in M1. In M2 41.2% reported the death of friends or relatives. Psychiatric illness was described by 38.5% and psychotropic drugs use by 30.1% in M1, especially those who lived alone (p = 0.03) and the single ones (p = 0.01). Alcohol intake was reported by 54.3%, and among doctors graduated in 2020 it increased from 50% in M1 to 85% in M2 (p = 0.04). The pandemic had a negative impact on the mental health of medical students and newly graduated doctors. Exposure to excessive COVID-19 information and family physical distance were associated to anxiety symptoms. Among doctors graduated in 2020, alcohol intake increased during pandemic evolution.