Depression, anxiety, and stress in dentists in times of covid-19 in northern Peru.

Resumo

Objective: To determine the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress in dentists working in the northern region of Peru in times of COVID-19. Material and Methods: 310 dentists working in the northern region of Peru in times of COVID-19 were evaluated by means of an observational and cross-sectional study. Subjects were asked to give their informed consent and answer a virtual questionnaire containing 21 items based on the DASS-21 Scale that assesses depression, anxiety, and stress. A descriptive analysis was carried out with frequencies; for the variables of gender and years of work experience the Chi square test (p<0.05) was used. Results: It was found that 291 (93.87%) of the dentists suffered from some type of psychological disorder: stress (35.74%), anxiety (35.05%), depression (29.21%). Mild stress was the most prevalent accounting for 49.04% (51); mild depression with 45.88% (39), and moderate anxiety with 40.20% (41). A higher prevalence was found in females and in those dentists who had less than 5 years of work experience. Conclusion: 93.87% of dentists working in the northern region of Peru in times of COVID-19 presented some type of psychological disorder, a higher frequency of mild stress was found, followed by mild depression, and moderate anxiety.