TY  - JOUR
A1  - Halfmann, Marie
A1  - Castioni, Noah
A1  - Wetzel, Lea
A1  - Koopmann, Anne
A1  - König, Sarah
A1  - Schmieder, Astrid
T1  - Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of medical students and young physicians in Germany: Gender-specific results of an online survey
JF  - Heliyon
N2  - Background
Healthcare workers and medical students faced new challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Processes within many hospitals were completely disrupted. In addition, the face to face teaching of medical students was drastically reduced. Those at risk of developing mental health problems appear to be younger health care workers and women.

Objective
To investigate potential COVID-19 pandemic-related gender differences in psychological distress among medical students and physicians in their first years of practice.

Design and setting
An anonymous survey was carried out online between December 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022, at the Mannheim Medical Faculty and the Würzburg Medical Faculty, Germany, after obtaining informed consent. Primary outcome measures were changes in anxiety and depression symptoms using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and changes in participants' current quality of life using the WHO Quality of Life BREF.

Results
The results show wave-like courses for perceived anxiety and burden overlapping with the course of the COVID-19 incidence. In comparison to men, women showed a significant higher increase in HADS (p = 0.005) and a reduced life quality (p = 0.007) after COVID-19. Both sexes showed different frequencies of the factors influencing quality of life, with the presence of a previous mental illness and mean anxiety having a significant higher negative impact in women.

Conclusion
Future and young female physicians reported a disproportionate higher burden during COVID-19 compared to their male colleges. These observations suggest an increased need for support and prevention efforts especially in this vulnerable population.
KW  - mental health
KW  - Covid-19
KW  - medical students
KW  - sex differences
Y1  - 2024
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-350502
SN  - 2405-8440
VL  - 10
IS  - 1
ER  -