Depression in healthcare workers from the COVID-19 Care and Isolation Center - Villa Panamericana: a single-center prospective study in Peru

Abstract

Objective: Depression is a mental problem that affects the well-being of healthcare workers, impacting the quality of care and even leading to commit suicide. We aim to the levels of depression in frontline healthcare workers during the first severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak in Peru. Methods: A prospective cohort study was designed in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Care and Isolation Center -Villa Panamericana in eastern Lima. Care and Isolation Center-Villa Panamericana houses about 150 healthcare workers and COVID-19 patients. The Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating scale was used for depression assessment. Results: A total of 96 participants (30±5.6 years) were analyzed: 15 (15.6%) physicians, 39 (40.6%) nurses, 14 (14.6%) medical technologists, and 28 (29.2%) nurse technicians. Mild, moderate, and severe depression were present in 35 (36.5%), 44 (45.8%), and 9 (9.4%) of the cases, respectively. The physicians and nurses reported more severe levels of depression: 8 (53.3%) physicians and 18 (46.2%) nurses presented moderate depression; and 2 (13.3%) physicians and 3 (7.7%) nurses presented severe depression (p=0.005). This study determined greater symptoms of depression according to years of work (p=0.001). Thirty-two healthcare workers had COVID-19, 4 (12.5%) physicians, 9 (28.1%) nurses, 7 (21.9%) medical technologists, and 12 (37.5%) nurse technicians. Twenty-four (75%) participants showed symptoms of ) and severe (3 [9.4%]) symptoms of depression (p=0.041). Conclusion: This study clearly demonstrated a high prevalence of depression in the Care and Isolation Center-Villa Panamericana frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru.

Can living with COVID-19 patients in a hospital increase anxiety levels? A survey-based single-center study in Peru

“…Another important finding of this study was that only patients with COVID-19 infection had anxiety. In contrast to depression in VP-19 HCWs [5], anxiety symptoms were significantly more severe in HCWs infected with SARS-CoV-2. In this regard, reports mention that HCWs who have been in contact with SARS-CoV-2 infected people have shown higher anxiety levels, stress and insomnia [16].…”

“…Several studies evaluated and associated both neuropsychiatric disorders in HCWs [6,7,13,14,16,18,21,22]. The HCWs from VP-19 who presented higher anxiety levels have also reported moderate levels of depression during the first outbreak of COVID-19 in Peru [5]. As anxiety may be associated with frequent depression, longitudinal studies are needed to understand its relationship (as well as its relationship with other psychological outcomes such as fear or stress).…”

“…Each HCW spent 15 days working at VP-19 on a continuous schedule of 12 hours per day (and 24 hours depending on the function) also was housed in one of the housing towers set up for the workers. Admission and departure screenings were done with molecular (conventional reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction-RT-PCR) and serological testing for IgG/IgM (SafeCare Biotech, Hangzhou, China) for COVID-19 [5].…”

“…Peru, a middle-income country with 33 million inhabitants, has been beaten hard by COVID-19. When declaring a lockdown in March 2020, has converted a high-performance athletes' accommodation center (used for the Pan American Games Lima 2019) into a hospitalization and care center for COVID-19 (Villa Panamericana 2019) unique in the world as its hosted patients and health professionals [5]. With check-in and checkout controls, healthcare professionals (HCWs) were housed for half a month in the Villa Panamericana (VP- 19), working continuous hours and resting periods in residential towers set up in front of the COVID-19 inpatient and monitoring centre.…”

Substance Use in Healthcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Latin America: A Systematic Review and a Call for Reports

“…5 The difficulties posed by the COVID-19 lockdown have not only resulted in a poor response with high mortality rates, but they have also influenced HCWs' mental health, with increasing levels of anxiety, depression, fear and stress. [6][7][8][9][10] Substance abuse in HCWs have emerged as consequences of the impact of COVID-19. 11 Due to intense work, fatigue, trauma, sleep deprivation and deprivation of social relationships, many HCWs have modified their lifestyles, leading to substance abuse.…”