Effects and implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on medicine use by employees of a Brazilian public university: a cross-sectional study.
Sao Paulo Med J
; 140(2): 250-260, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1686196
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, universities have had to adopt remote education, a strategy that caused sudden changes of routine for everyone involved in academia.OBJECTIVE:
To assess the profile of medicine use by the employees of a Brazilian public university during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN ANDSETTING:
Cross-sectional study at a Brazilian public university.METHODS:
Employees were invited to answer an online self-administered questionnaire, containing questions on sociodemographic features, medicine use, mental health and lifestyle habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The outcome variable was the use of medicines stratified according to occupation. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate (Poisson regression) statistical analyses were performed.RESULTS:
A total of 372 employees participated in the study and use of medicine was reported by 53.2%. Among professors, suicide attempts (prevalence ratio [PR], 1.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20-2.74), physical activity (PR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.11-2.11) and poor self-rated health (PR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.01-1.66); and among technicians, decreased workload during the COVID-19 pandemic (PR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.00-1.99), excess body weight (PR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.02-1.88) and poor self-rated health (PR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.14-1.92) were positively associated with use of medicines. In addition, among technicians, engaging in physical activity (PR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.46-0.78) was a protective factor against medicine use.CONCLUSION:
The profile of medicine use among these employees was similar to that of the Brazilian population. However, some associated factors may have been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, thus highlighting the need to examine this topic in a longitudinal study.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Etiology study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Brazil
Language:
English
Journal:
Sao Paulo Med J
Journal subject:
Medicine
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
1516-3180.2021.0367.R1.23072021
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