AUTHOR=Stanyte Agne , Podlipskyte Aurelija , Milasauskiene Egle , Király Orsolya , Demetrovics Zsolt , Ambrasas Laurynas , Burkauskas Julius , Steibliene Vesta 

TITLE=Mental Health and Wellbeing in Lithuanian Medical Students and Resident Doctors During COVID-19 Pandemic

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.871137

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2022.871137

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a negative effect on mental health and subjective psychological well-being. One of the most affected populations are medical students, reporting higher levels of depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties and overall poorer well-being. However, the relationship between depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties and subjective psychological well-being have not been extensively researched in medical students in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between depression, anxiety, sleep quality, and subjective psychological well-being.
Methods: In sum, 524 medical students and resident doctors (78.6% female, mean age 24±3 years old) participated in an online survey between December 2020 and February 2021. Participants completed the WHO – Five Well-Being Index Questionnaire (WHO-5), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQ) questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment-7 (GAD-7).
Results: Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that female participants’ worse subjective psychological well-being was associated with sleep difficulties (OR=2.39, 95% CI = 1.37-4.18, p=0.002), higher depression (OR=6.13, 95% CI = 3.46-10.88, p<0.001) and anxiety symptoms (OR=2.95, 95% CI = 1.66-5.22, p<0.001). In male participants, analysis revealed the associations between worse subjective psychological well-being and higher depression scores (OR= 9.94, 95% CI = 3.29-30.03, p<0.001).
Conclusions: Sex differences is an important factor to consider when evaluating subjective psychological well-being. Clinicians should be aware of significant contributors, such as sleep patterns anxiety and depression, to subjective psychological well-being.