Highlights This is the first study to investigate the mental health status of Bangladeshi medical students during COVID-19 pandemic. The HADS anxiety subscale revealed that 65.9% of the medical students had different levels of anxiety, ranging from mild (27.3%), moderate (26.8%), and severe (11.8%). As per HADS depression subscale, 49.9% of the medical students had varying degrees of depressive symptoms, with 3.3% of the participants had suffered from severely severe depressive symptoms. Female students had a relatively more anxiety and depressive symptoms, when compared with males. The students, who were severely tensed of getting infected by the virus, were at higher risk of suffering from anxiety (3.5-fold) and depressive (2.7-fold) symptoms (2.7-fold), when compared with no/minimally stressed students.

Objective To describe the prevalence of operationally defined fatigue in an ethnically diverse HIV‐infected population in south London, and to examine the association of fatigue with demographic characteristics, stage of disease, antiretroviral therapy and psychological factors. Methods A descriptive comparative cross‐sectional study of HIV‐infected patients attending a London HIV clinic over a 5‐month period in 2002 was performed. Demographic and clinical data were obtained from the local database. Participants completed four self‐administered questionnaires–the Chalder Fatigue Scale (CFS), a measure of physical and mental fatigue; the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ‐12) to detect anxiety and depression; the Medical Outcomes Study 36‐Item Short‐Form Health Survey (SF‐36) to measure functional status, and the Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ). Fatigue ‘cases’ were defined as those scoring at least 4 on the CFS. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with the presence of fatigue. Results Two hundred and five patients were approached and 148 (72%) agreed to participate. Overall, 65% of patients were defined as fatigued. Significant psychological distress on the GHQ‐12, functional impairment on the SF‐36 and a higher CD4 count were all independently associated with the presence of fatigue. There was no association with use of antiretroviral therapy or demographic characteristics. Conclusions The presence of fatigue in HIV‐infected patients is most strongly associated with psychological factors and not with more advanced HIV disease or the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy. This highlights the importance of investigation and management of underlying depression and anxiety in patients presenting with fatigue.

ObjectivesIn addition to risking their physical well-being, frontline physicians are enduring significant emotional burden both at work and home during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to investigate the levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms and to identify associated factors among Bangladeshi physicians during the COVID-19 outbreak.Methods and designA cross-sectional study using an online survey was conducted between April 21 and May 10, 2020. Outcomes assessed included demographic questions, COVID-19 related questions, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).ResultsThe survey was completed by 412 Bangladeshi physicians. The findings revealed that, in terms of standardized HADS cut-off points, the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among physicians was 67.72% and 48.5% respectively. Risk factors for higher rates of anxiety or depressive symptoms were: being female, physicians who had experienced COVID-19 like symptoms during the pandemic, those who had not received incentives, those who used self-funded PPE, not received adequate training, lacking perceived self-efficacy to manage COVID -19 positive patients, greater perceived stress of being infected, fear of getting assaulted/humiliated, being more connected with social media, having lower income levels to support the family, feeling more agitated, less than 2 hours of leisure activity per day and short sleep duration. All these factors were found to be positively associated with anxiety and depression in unadjusted and adjusted statistical models.ConclusionsThis study identifies a real concern about the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among Bangladeshi physicians and identifies several associated factors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the vulnerability of the physicians in this extraordinary period whilst they are putting their own lives at risk to help people infected by COVID-19, health authorities should address the psychological needs of medical staff and formulate effective strategies to support vital frontline health workers.STHRENGHTS & LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDYThis study reports a novel and concerning findings on the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms with identification of several important associated factors among Bangladeshi physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.The cross-sectional nature of the study design could not establish causal relationship between the dependent and independent variables.This study was carried out by conducting a web-based survey, which might generate sampling bias by excluding the physicians who do not have access to internet or inactive in social medias, and thus limit the generalizability of the findings.