'Anxiety is still ongoing!' Evaluation of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety severity of physicians working in the internal medicine department after 1 year: a collaborative cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased anxiety in society and particularly in healthcare workers, as shown with a questionnaire in our centre at the beginning of the pandemic. In this collaborative study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of the pandemic on anxiety 1 year later by applying the same questionnaire to the physicians working in the same department. A total of 77 participants consented to the study. The median age was 28 (interquartile range = 4) years and 55.8% were male. As in the first survey, female gender, having family members over 65 years of age, and having family members with chronic diseases were significantly associated with high anxiety scores and levels. There were no statistically significant differences between the first and second survey participants in any of the anxiety scales, which means anxiety persists.