Generalised Anxiety Disorder in Consultants versus Postgraduate Trainees in Tertiary care hospital, Peshawar

Abstract

Objective: To compare the frequency of anxiety in consultants versus post-graduate trainees.

Methodology:  A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at Medical Teaching Institute Lady Reading Hospital from September to November 2022, and ethical approval was obtained.  non-probability convenient sampling technique was used. In this study, 252 consultants and post-graduate trainees of all levels working in different specialties were included with their consent, house officers and nurses were not included in this study.  Data was collected regarding basic demographic features like age, gender, marital status, year of training/experience, and probable contributing factors to anxiety, and a 7-item anxiety scale (GAD-7) questionnaire was used. A total score of 8 was used to diagnose anxiety (cutoff values were used for the level of anxiety too). 

Results: In this study, out of 252 participants, the frequency of anxiety was 129 (51.19%) among trainees while among consultants it was 40 (15.87%). Among all participants, 152 (60.3%) were aged 20-30, and they were found to have moderate anxiety (GAD-7 score 10.38 ± 4.8) while the rest had a mild anxiety disorder, females were having moderate anxiety (GAD-7 score 11.72 ± 4.74) compared with mild anxiety disorder in males. Unmarried doctors showed moderate anxiety (GAD-7 score 10.14 ± 4.8) while married had a mild anxiety disorder.

Doctors in Obstetrics and Gynaecology were found to have the highest GAD-7 score 13.26 ± 4.6 followed by Ophthalmology and General Surgery. Unsatisfaction with duty hours, patient overload, shortage of equipment, and unsafe workplace were major contributing factors.

Conclusion: Generalized anxiety disorder is present in a significant number of our doctors, especially young postgraduate trainees. Large-scale studies are needed to identify the magnitude and effect of GAD on healthcare workers and remedial measures should be implemented.