Emotional Impact on Health Personnel, Medical Students, and General Population Samples During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Lima, Peru

• DOI: 10.1016/j.rcp.2021.04.006
• Publication Date: 2021-06-05T17:17:41Z
• Authors: Bruno Pedraz-Petr...; Hever Krüger-Malp...; Martin Arevalo-Fl...; Frine Salmavides-...; Victor Anculle-Ar...; Mauricio Dancuart...
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Students, Medical; Adolescent; Health Personnel; Anxiety; Young Adult; Risk Factors; Peru; Humans; Pandemics; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Psychological Tests; Depression; COVID-19; Health personnel; Middle Aged; Medical students; Health Surveys; Latin America; Logistic Models; Mental health; Original Article; Female; Stress, Psychological

The aim of the study is to compare the emotional effects of COVID-19 among three different groups, namely: health personnel, medical students, and a sample of the general population.375 participants were recruited for this study, of which 125 were medical students (preclinical studies, 59; clinical studies, 66), 125 were health personnel (COVID-19 frontline personnel, 59; personnel not related with COVID-19, 66), and 125 belonged to the general population. The PHQ-9, GAD-7, and CPDI scales were used to assess the emotional impact. A multinomial logistic regression was performed to measure differences between groups, considering potential confounding factors.Regarding CPDI values, all other groups showed reduced values compared to COVID-19 frontline personnel. However, the general population, preclinical and clinical medical students showed increased PHQ-9 values compared to COVID-19 frontline personnel. Finally, confounding factors, gender and age correlated negatively with higher CPDI and PHQ-9 scores.Being frontline personnel is associated with increased COVID-19-related stress. Depression is associated, however, with other groups not directly involved with the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Female gender and younger age correlated with COVID-19-related depression and stress.