Relationship between perceived stress, hair cortisol and burnout components in health workers during the second year of Covid 19 pandemic

Diego Gonzalez; Federico Fortuna; Estela D; Patricia Otero; Nenda Maria Graciela; Carolina Ibar; Juan Jamardo; Mariela Calvo; Florencia Funez; Florencia Minotti; Filipuzzi Ana Laura; Nuria Canellas; Dario Jacobsen; Sergio Azzara; Silvia Iglesias; Gabriela Berg; Guillermo Gutierrez; Claudio Aranda; Bibiana Fabre

doi:10.1530/endoabs.90.EP664

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Endocrine Abstracts (2023) 90 EP664 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.90.EP664

ECE2023 Eposter Presentations Environmental Endocrinology (10 abstracts)

Relationship between perceived stress, hair cortisol and burnout components in health workers during the second year of Covid 19 pandemic

Diego Gonzalez ¹ , Federico Fortuna ¹ , Estela D’Isa ² , Patricia Otero ³ , Maria Graciela Nenda ⁴ , Carolina Ibar ¹ , Juan Jamardo ¹ , Mariela Calvo ⁵ , Florencia Funez ⁴ , Florencia Minotti ³ , Ana Laura Filipuzzi ⁶ , Nuria Canellas ⁷ , Dario Jacobsen ¹ , Sergio Azzara ⁸ , Silvia Iglesias ⁹ , Gabriela Berg ¹ , Guillermo Gutierrez ⁶ , Claudio Aranda ³ & Bibiana Fabre ¹

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Author affiliations

¹Instituto de Fisiopatología y Bioquímica Clínica (INFIBIOC). Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Universidad de Buenos Aires, Departamento de Bioquímica Clínica., Buenos Aires, Argentina; ²Laboratorio Hospital General de Agudos Cosme Argerich, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; ³Sector Endocrinología. División Laboratorio. Hospital General de Agudos Carlos G Durand, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; ⁴Laboratorio. Hospital General de Agudos Cosme Argerich, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; ⁵Sector Endocrinología, División Laboratorio. Hospital General de Agudos Carlos G Durand., Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; ⁶Laboratorio Hospital General de Agudos Cosme Argerich., Ciudad de Buenos Aires; ⁷Sector Endocrinología, División Laboratorio. Hospital General de Agudos Carlos G Durand, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; ⁸Catedra de Metodología para la Investigación Psicológica I, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; ⁹Catedra de Química Analítica Instrumental, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

In Wuhan China in December 2019, cases of severe atypical viral pneumonia emerged, and the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. In this critical context, health workers were on the front lines, directly participating in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with COVID-19. The objective of our work was to evaluate stress and burnout in health workers and to measure hair cortisol levels as a stress biomarker during the second wave.

Materials and methods 496 health workers were included from Cosme Argerich Hospital (n=190), “José de San Martín” Hospital de Clínicas (n=156) and Carlos G Durand Hospital (n=150). Sociodemographic data of the included individuals was gathered, completing the following psychometric tools: perceived stress, social support, burnout scale, anxiety scale. Hair samples were obtained from posterior vertex between July and October 2021. Hair cortisol was measured following the procedure developed in our laboratory with an automated chemiluminescent method (Immulite 2000).

Results Table 1 shows the associations found in the studied population. 11% (n=54) presented Burnout (High Emotional Exhaustion, low Personal Achievement and high Depersonalization). It was observed that the two Acute Care Hospitals (Argerich and Durand) presented a similar Burnout percentage (13%, n=25; 12%, n=18, respectively), whereas it was lower in the University Hospital (7%, n=11). When we performed a binary logistic regression, we found that Perceived Stress, Anxiety and age were associated with Burnout (P=0.024, OR: 1.258 [IC1.030–1.536]; P=0.025 OR: 0.894 [IC0.810–0.986]; P=0.001 OR: 0.954 [IC0.926–0.981], respectively). Considering individuals with hair cortisol levels above median, a significant association was observed between hair cortisol and age, hours worked, Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization (r=−0.236, P<0.0001; r=0.204, P=0.006; r=0.185, P=0.006; r=0.172, P=0.010).

Table 1 Statistical Associations
Variable	Anxiety	Burnout
		Emotional Exhaustion	Personal Achievement	Depersonalization
Hair Cortisol	NS	r=0.129, P=0.005	NS	NS
Perceived stress	r=0.240, P<0.0001	r=0.269, P<0.0001	NS	r=0.102, P=0.026
Workload	NS	r=0.228, P<0.0001	NS	NS
Anxiety	NS	r=0.300, P <0.0001	NS	NS
Social support	NS	NS	r=0.183, P<0.0001	NS
*NS= not significant

Conclusion: In this work conducted during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, it was observed that Burnout was associated with low social support, high personal exhaustion and younger age. Burnout percentage found during the second wave in Hospital de Clinicas was significantly lower than the one obtained in July 2020. Health workers are especially exposed to stress and burnout, being a vulnerable population to psychological distress. Therefore, strategies should be implemented to assess this psychological emergency.