ECE2022 Eposter Presentations General Endocrinology (15 abstracts)
Epidemiological characteristics and psychological distress of well-controlled endocrine outpatients from Crete, Greece during the COVID-19 Pandemic: preliminary results of the EPITOME study.
Panagiotis-Nikolaos Tsakalomatis 1 , Vasiliki Daraki 1 , Theano Roumeliotaki 2 , Grigoria Betsi 1 , Maria Chrysoulaki 1 , Maria Sfakiotaki 1 , Eleni- Konstantina Syntzanaki 1 , Rodanthi Vamvoukaki 1 , Kalliopi Kontolaimaki 1 , Vasiliki Venetsanaki 1 , Kyriakos Nicolaou 1 , Polyxeni Anomerianaki 1 , George Mavrakis 1 , Katerina Bouki 1 , Panagiota Goulia 3 & Paraskevi Xekouki 1
1University General Hospital of Heraklion, Endocrinology & Diabetes Clinic, Heraklion, Greece; 2University of Crete, Department of Social Medicine, Heraklion, Greece; 3Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Aim: To explore the epidemiological characteristics and symptoms of psychological distress of well-controlled endocrine patients without a diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder attending the Endocrine outpatient clinic of the University Hospital, Heraklion, Crete, Greece during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Eighty-four patients participated by completing questionnaires about demographics, endocrine diagnosis, covid infection, preventive measures, vaccination status, source of support and lifestyle changes. Psychological distress was assessed by means of the Greek version of the DASS 21 questionnaire. Ethical approval was obtained by Institutional Review Board and all participants provided written informed consent.
Results: Participants’ mean age was 50.8 years; 76.2% were female, 68.7% married and 57.8% employed. Most common endocrinopathies were thyroid diseases, diabetes mellitus and pituitary disorders. Only two patients had been infected with COVID-19 and 31% were a close contact to a COVID-19 patient. The level of adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures was 96.4%, whereas 21.7% hesitated to visit a healthcare professional due to the fear of becoming infected. Sixty-four (77.1%) had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The majority cited family as their supportive network (84.3%) followed by friends and neighbors (16.9%) and only 2.4% the social services. Forty-one reported changes at eating habits and thirty one had gained weight; twenty-three had decreased their physical activity and thirty-one dropped hobbies due to the pandemic. Approximately one in four reported sleep difficulties. The majority did not present symptoms of stress (71.43%), anxiety (80.52%) or depression (80.3%). Patients with chronic endocrine disease reported stress symptoms less frequently. Conclusions: This is the first study in Crete, Greece regarding social parameters and psychological distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic in endocrine patients. Our participants follow the recommended preventive measures and are mostly vaccinated. They would seek help from family and friends if required and do not rely on state-provided sources for support. Contrary to numerous studies indicating that depression and anxiety increased during the present pandemic, we found that our sample had low rates of moderate/severe anxiety/depression. We hypothesize that this is related to the well-controlled endocrine problems, and to protective factors such as marital status, employment, family support, as well as the vaccination status and compliance with preventive measures. This is an ongoing study with an aim to define whether different demographics and social parameters may influence levels of distress in this patient group and to develop strategies which may improve well-being during severe crises in endocrine patients.
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Endocrine Abstracts
ISSN 1470-3947 (print) | ISSN 1479-6848 (online)
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