Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety, stress, and insomnia in ear, nose and throat physicians

Abstract

Objective: Health workers are generally the group at highest risk of contagion in pandemics, which result in physical and mental burnout in them. Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) physicians are at severe risk both as patients presenting to ENT clinics are potential carriers of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and because of procedures producing aerosols during upper airway examination. In this study, we aimed to examine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety, stress, and insomnia in ENT physicians. Methods: A hundred and three ENT physicians working in various provinces of Turkey were included in the study. The study data were collected using an online questionnaire. In addition to questions involving participants’ demographic characteristics, the questionnaire also contained the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Results: Anxiety, stress, and insomnia scores were statistically significantly higher in female physicians than in men. No statistically significant variation was observed in terms of physicians’ age groups, possession of children, or presence of chronic disease. Significantly higher anxiety was determined in physicians working for 16–25 years than in those working for one to five years. The physicians’ anxiety levels also highly correlated with insomnia and stress levels. No significant association was observed between insomnia and stress levels. Conclusion: The physicians’ mean scores indicated mild anxiety, clinically insignificant insomnia, and moderate levels of stress. In addition, in agreement with the previous literature, anxiety, insomnia, and stress levels were significantly higher in women than in men.