Psychological Impact of COVID- 19 on the Ophthalmologists in Iran
Masomeh Kalantarion1 *, Zhale Rajavi2 , Hamideh Sabbaghi3 , Bahareh Kheiri4 , Hamid Ahmadieh4 , Mohammad Hasan Shahriari5
- Department of Medical education, Virtual School of Medical Education and Management, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IRAN
- Negah Specialty Ophthalmic Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Ophthalmic Epidemiology Research Center, Research Institute for Ophthalmology and Vision Science, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Ophthalmic Research Center, Research Institute for Ophthalmology and Vision Science, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Department of Health Information Technology and Management, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences,Tehran, Iran
Abstract: To identify the psychological impact of COVID- 19 on Ophthalmologists who were trained or practiced throughout Iran between August and December 2020.
Methods: In this cross sectional online survey, a standard Patient Health Questionnaire- 9 (PHQ- 9) was filled out by 228 Iranian ophthalmologists who were trained or practiced throughout Iran. Furthermore, the PHQ- 9 questionnaire was revised by adding two extra questions to be specifically applicable for assessment of the psychological impact of COVID- 19 on the Iranian ophthalmologists. Eventually, an organized classification regarding different depression severities of no (0-4), mild (5-9), moderate (10-14), or severe (15-21) was considered for data analysis.
Results: The mean age of our participants was 49.03±11.63 years (median, 49.5; range: 8 to 85) and the majority of them (67.1%) were male. Depression was found in 73.68% (n=168) with different severities of mild (n=61, 26.75%), moderate (n=63, 27.63%) and severe (n=44, 19.3%). It was found that participants without depression were older compared with the depressed ophthalmologists (P=0.04). Additionally, the serious worry regarding their training or profession (P<0.001) and their income (P=0.002) was more significantly observed among ophthalmologists with depression. The higher percent of depression was also obtained among ophthalmologists with no history of previous psychological problems (P=0.04). It was found higher percentage of the severe depression in the high risk regions compared with the other regions (P=0.003). Depression was found in ophthalmologists with somewhat and serious worry about their training/ profession and income comparing to those having the serious worry.
Conclusion: high incidence of depression was observed among Iranian ophthalmologists with younger ages and who were worried about their training/ profession and income as well as living in the high risk regions. More attantion to the young ophthalmologists who have the above mentioned factors is recommended to be planned by the health policy makers.
Keywords: Psychological Impact; COVID- 19; Ophthalmologists; Iran
