Burnout and Cardiovascular Risk in Healthcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Fayeza Alameri; Noura Aldaheri; Sarah Almesmari; Manea Basaloum; Nouf Albdulrahman Albeshr; Mecit Can Emre Simsekler; Nnamdi Valbosco Ugwuoke; Murat Dalkilinc; Mai Al Qubaisi; Luciana Aparecida Campos; Wael Almahmeed; Eman Alefishat; Hashel Al Tunaiji; Ovidiu Constantin Baltatu

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.867233

Burnout and Cardiovascular Risk in Healthcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Front Psychiatry. 2022 Apr 4:13:867233. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.867233. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Fayeza Alameri¹, Noura Aldaheri¹, Sarah Almesmari¹, Manea Basaloum¹, Nouf Albdulrahman Albeshr¹, Mecit Can Emre Simsekler², Nnamdi Valbosco Ugwuoke³, Murat Dalkilinc¹, Mai Al Qubaisi¹, Luciana Aparecida Campos^{4

5}, Wael Almahmeed⁶, Eman Alefishat^{3

7

8}, Hashel Al Tunaiji^{1

9}, Ovidiu Constantin Baltatu^{3

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Zayed Military Hospital, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
² College of Engineering, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
³ Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
⁴ Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
⁵ Center of Innovation, Technology and Education (CITE) at Anhembi Morumbi University - Anima Institute, São José dos Campos, Brazil.
⁶ Heart and Vascular Institute - Cleveland Clinic, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
⁷ Department of Biopharmaceutics and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
⁸ Center for Biotechnology, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
⁹ Academic and Research Committee, Zayed Military University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Abstract

Introduction: The objective of this study was to investigate the psychosocial and cardiovascular markers in healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This was a STROBE compliant, blended exploratory study. Residents, staff physicians, nurses, and auxiliary healthcare professionals from both inpatient and outpatient medicine services were recruited using a planned random probability sample. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Fuster-BEWAT score (FBS), and socio-demographic factors, as well as sleep quality, were studied. The correlations between burnout severity and cardiovascular risk were examined using multivariable linear regression models adjusted for confounding variables, such as sociodemographic and anthropometric characteristics.

Results: The regression analysis with FBS as the outcome showed a negative association between cardiovascular health and emotional exhaustion [Coef.(95%CI): -0.029 (-0.048, -0.01), p = 0.002]. The higher the emotional exhaustion the lower the cardiovascular health. Further, the model showed a positive association between personal accomplishment and cardiovascular health [Coef.(95%CI): 0.045 (0.007, 0.082), p = 0.02]. Emotional exhaustion was significantly positive correlated with REM sleep and light average (Spearman's rank correlation: 0.37 and 0.35, respectively, with P < 0.05).

Conclusion: The data from this study show that healthcare practitioners who are with burnout and emotional exhaustion have an elevated cardiovascular risk, however, causality cannot be determined. As an adaptive response to stressful situations, REM sleep increases. The findings of this study may be relevant in creating preventive strategies for burnout and cardiovascular risk reduction or prevention.

Clinical trial registration: [www.ClinicalTrials.gov], identifier [NCT04422418].

Keywords: REM sleep; cardiovascular risk (CV risk); depersonalization (DP); emotional exhaustion (EE); sleep alterations; work stress.

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT04422418