Depression and eating disorders among health care professionals in Morocco during the COVID-19 pandemic
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Laila Lahlou 1 2 * , Imad Ziouziou 1 , Asmaa Abdelnaby 3 , Abdelkarim Kharroubi 1 , Soukaina Wakrim 1 , Khalid Mouhadi 1 , Farida Ajdi 1
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1 Laboratory of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, MOROCCO2 Laboratory of Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University Mohamed V, Rabat, MOROCCO3 Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, EGYPT* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Introduction: In Morocco, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was on March 2nd, 2020. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced the outbreak of COVID-19 to be a pandemic. Due to the subsequent increase in confirmed cases in Morocco, a state of medical emergency with lock down was declared on March 20th, 2020. Pandemics, such as COVID-19, may lead to or further exacerbate psychological distress. The pandemic’s impact on mental health and eating disorders among health care professionals in Morocco is unknown. The aim of this study was to screen for depression and eating disorders among healthcare workers in Morocco during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a sample of Moroccan healthcare workers via an online platform. The questionnaire included the SCOFF and PHQ-9 screening tools to assess for the presence of depression and eating disorders. A total of 389 questionnaires were completed.
Results: Of the participants, 29.3% had moderate to severe depression. Females and older participants had statistically significant higher rates of depression (p=0.012, 0.000, respectively). Eating disorders were present in 42% of our sample. The presence of an eating disorder was more likely among participants that were younger (<22 years old, p=0.01), obese (p=0.009), using cannabis (p=0.009), emotional eating (p<0.001) or diagnosed with depression (p=0.001).
Conclusion: The pandemic has negative impacts on mental health and eating behaviors among a sample of Moroccan health care workers. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, both rates of depression and eating disorders increased. This supports the need for increasing access to mental health services among healthcare professionals in Morocco as well as reducing the stigma associated with getting help.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Original Article

ELECTRON J GEN MED, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2022, Article No: em387

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/12155

Publication date: 08 Jun 2022

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