Anxiety symptoms and alcohol abuse during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A cross‐sectional study with Brazilian dental undergraduate students

Abstract

Aim The aim of this study is to assess whether anxiety symptoms are associated with alcohol abuse in Brazilian undergraduate dental students during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Method A cross‐sectional study was conducted. A semi‐structured questionnaire addressing the variables of interest was hosted on Google Forms and shared with dental undergraduate students from all Brazilian regions between July 8 and 27, 2020. Alcohol abuse was measured using the Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty, Eye opener (CAGE) questionnaire score of ≥2. All participants responded to the seven‐item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD‐7). Hierarchical logistic regression was also conducted. Results Among the 1050 students evaluated, 18.7% ( n = 196) had a positive screening for alcohol abuse during the pandemic. The prevalence of mild (GAD‐7 = 5–9), moderate (GAD‐7 = 10–14), and severe (GAD‐7 ≥15) anxiety among students were 31.3%, 29.6%, and 24.2%, respectively. The final hierarchical logistic regression model showed that during the COVID‐19 pandemic, anxiety levels predict the likelihood of alcohol abuse among students with moderate (OR 10.05 [95% IC: 4.12–24.52]) or severe (OR 15.82 [95% IC: 6.46–38.73]) anxiety, especially for male students (moderate anxiety: OR 17.06 [95% CI: 8.36–34.78]; severe anxiety: OR 28.38 [95% CI: 8.62–38.24]). Conclusion The prevalence of alcohol abuse and moderate or severe anxiety in Brazilian undergraduate dental students during the COVID‐19 pandemic was high. Male students may be more sensitive to the presence of anxiety symptoms in this period, thus contributing to higher levels of alcohol consumption, in comparison to female students. Intervention strategies that promote the adoption of healthier lifestyles can enable the effective management of anxiety symptoms during the pandemic and thus, hold the potential to reduce exacerbated alcohol intake in this population.

Mental disorder symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America – a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…A total of 65 unique samples from 62 studies involving 196 950 participants from Latin America were included in this meta-analysis (Badellino et al ., 2020, 2022; Campos et al ., 2020, 2021 a , 2021 b ; Chen et al ., 2021 a , 2021 b ; Civantos et al ., 2020; Cortés-Álvarez et al ., 2020; Dal'Bosco et al ., 2020; De Boni et al ., 2020; Fernández et al ., 2020; Giardino et al ., 2020; Guiroy et al ., 2020; Malgor et al ., 2020; Martinez et al ., 2020; Medeiros et al ., 2020; Mier-Bolio et al ., 2020; Monterrosa-Castro et al ., 2020; Mora-Magaña et al ., 2020; Passos et al ., 2020; Paz et al ., 2020; Samaniego et al ., 2020; Schuch et al ., 2020; Yáñez et al ., 2020; Antiporta et al ., 2021; Boluarte-Carbajal et al ., 2021; Brito-Marques et al ., 2021; Cayo-Rojas et al ., 2021; Cénat et al ., 2021; Dantas et al ., 2021; de Oliveira Andrade et al ., 2021; Espinosa-Guerra et al ., 2021; Esteves et al ., 2021; Fernandez et al ., 2021; Ferreira et al ., 2021; Feter et al ., 2021; Flores-Torres et al ., 2021; García-Espinosa et al ., 2021; Goularte et al ., 2021; Landaeta-Díaz et al ., 2021; Loret de Mola et al ., 2021; Mautong et al ., 2021; Mendonca et al ., 2021; Mota et al ., 2021; Nayak et al ., 2021; Puccinelli et al ., 2021; Ribeiro et al ., 2021; Schmitt Jr et al ., 2021; Scotta et al ., 2021; Serafim et al ., 2021; Souza et al ., 2021; Torrente et al ., 2021 a , 2021 b ; Villela et al ., 2021; Vitorino et al ., 2021; Werneck et al ., 2021; Zhang et al ., 2021 a , 2021 c ; da Silva Júnior et al ., 2021; Robles et al ., 2021) (Table 1 and online Supplementary Table S2). Some studies include multiple independent samples.…”

“…For example, one study examined the prevalence of both general healthcare workers and frontline healthcare workers. Among them, 35 samples (53.85%) were of general populations (Passos et al ., 2020; Antiporta et al ., 2021; Boluarte-Carbajal et al ., 2021; de Oliveira Andrade et al ., 2021; Espinosa-Guerra et al ., 2021; Ferreira et al ., 2021; Landaeta-Díaz et al ., 2021; Mautong et al ., 2021; Ribeiro et al ., 2021; Schmitt Jr et al ., 2021; Souza et al ., 2021; Torrente et al ., 2021 b ; Vitorino et al ., 2021; Badellino et al ., 2022), two samples (3.08%) were of frontline healthcare workers (Dal'Bosco et al ., 2020; Robles et al ., 2021), 19 samples (29.22%) were from general healthcare workers (Chen et al ., 2020; Civantos et al ., 2020; Giardino et al ., 2020; Guiroy et al ., 2020; Malgor et al ., 2020; Monterrosa-Castro et al ., 2020; Mora-Magaña et al ., 2020; Samaniego et al ., 2020; Yáñez et al ., 2020; Zhang et al ., 2021 a ; Villela et al ., 2021; Nayak et al ., 2021; Dantas et al ., 2021; Mota et al ., 2021; Brito-Marques et al ., 2021; Campos et al ., 2021 b ; Mier-Bolio et al ., 2020; Robles et al ., 2021) and nine samples (13.85%) were based on university students (Medeiros et al ., 2020; Campos et al ., 2021 a ; Cayo-Rojas et al ., 2021; Esteves et al ., 2021; Fernandez et al ., 2021; García-Espinosa et al ., 2021; Mendonca et al ., 2021; Scotta et al ., 2021; da Silva Júnior et al ., 2021). Of the 62 studies, 32 were from Brazil (49.22%) (Table 1).…”

“…In Latin America, 56 samples from 54 studies reported the prevalence of anxiety symptoms among 128 060 participants (Badellino et al ., 2020; Campos et al ., 2020, 2021 a , 2021 b ; Chen et al ., 2020; Civantos et al ., 2020; Cortés-Álvarez et al ., 2020; Dal'Bosco et al ., 2020; De Boni et al ., 2020; Fernández et al ., 2020; Malgor et al ., 2020; Martinez et al ., 2020; Medeiros et al ., 2020; Mier-Bolio et al ., 2020; Monterrosa-Castro et al ., 2020; Mora-Magaña et al ., 2020; Passos et al ., 2020; Paz et al ., 2020; Samaniego et al ., 2020; Schuch et al ., 2020; Yáñez et al ., 2020; Boluarte-Carbajal et al ., 2021; Cayo-Rojas et al ., 2021; Cénat et al ., 2021; Dantas et al ., 2021; de Oliveira Andrade et al ., 2021; Espinosa-Guerra et al ., 2021; Fernandez et al ., 2021; Ferreira et al ., 2021; Feter et al ., 2021; Flores-Torres et al ., 2021; García-Espinosa et al ., 2021; Giardino et al ., 2020; Goularte et al ., 2021; Landaeta-Díaz et al ., 2021; Loret de Mola et al ., 2021; Mautong et al ., 2021; Mendonca et al ., 2021; Nayak et al ., 2021; Puccinelli et al ., 2021; Ribeiro et al ., 2021; Serafim et al ., 2021; Souza et al ., 2021; Torrente et al ., 2021 a , 2021 b ; Vitorino et al ., 2021; Werneck et al ., 2021; Zhang et al ., 2021 a , 2021 b ; Caycho-Rodriguez et al ., 2022;; da Silva Júnior et al ., 2021; Robles et al ., 2021). Among all the anxiety survey tools used, the Generalised Anxiety Symptoms 7-items scale (GAD-7) was the most common (51.85%), followed by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale – 21 Items (DASS-21) (18.52%), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) (9.26%), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) (3.70%) and nine others (each 1.85%).…”

Internet Addiction, Symptoms of Anxiety, Depressive Symptoms, Stress Among Higher Education Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…On the contrary, Hajduk et al ( 57 ) conducted their research at the end of 2020, when the situation was much more serious and this may have been reflected in the mental health outcomes. A higher prevalence was also found in Saudi medical students (32.4%) ( 79 ), Pakistani medical students (30.3%) ( 80 ), Portuguese students (23.9%) ( 81 ), Polish students (38.4%) ( 82 ), Turkish students (44.5%) ( 83 ), and Brazilian students (53.8%) ( 84 ). The mean GAD-7 score was 4.71 for Czech students and 4.15 for Slovak students.…”

Knowledge About Biosafety Measures in Clinical Setting During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study With Brazilian Dental Students

“…The present study used specific variables from a larger study that investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Brazilian dental education 22 . Considering that one survey evaluated different outcomes, the expected prevalence of the phenomenon equal to 50% was used to obtain the largest sample size.…”