ANXIETY RELATED TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC AMONG NIGERIAN ORTHODONTISTS AND ORTHODONTIC RESIDENTS: A WEB BASED CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background: The spread of Coronavirus disease, 2019 (COVID-19) since its emergence created anxiety among health workers. Orthodontists and orthodontic residents are at risk of anxiety from fear of getting infected or infecting their families. This study aims to investigate dysfunctional anxiety related to the COVID-19 pandemic among Nigerian orthodontists and orthodontic residents. Methodology: A descriptive study using an electronic survey instrument distributed among Nigerian orthodontists and orthodontic residents. The survey questions included demographics and the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS). Results: The mean CAS score of 1.11 ± 3.06 was found. Of the 53 study participants, 2(3.8%) had dysfunctional anxiety level. Using bivariate evaluations, participants’ characteristics including type of orthodontic practice (F (15, 141) = 2.953, p< 0.001) and geographical location of the orthodontic practice (F (30, 230) = 1.813, p< 0.01) were associated with COVID-19 anxiety. Correlation analysis showed significantly higher CAS scores in males compared to females (p<0.05) which negatively correlated with COVID-19 anxiety scores (r = -0.288, p< 0.05). Conclusions: Dysfunctional anxiety related to COVID-19 pandemic was low among respondents and significant association between type and location of orthodontic practice and COVID-19 related anxiety was observed. Keywords: Africa, coronavirus, COVID-19, infectious Diseases, Nigeria, travel