Aspects of general, mental, and auditory health among nursing team members of a public hospital affected by Covid-19

Damaceno, Rafael Coelho; França, Denise Maria Vaz Romano; Lacerda, Adriana Bender Moreira de; Lüders, Débora

doi:10.1590/1982-0216/20252712124

Brasil

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ORIGINAL ARTICLES • Rev. CEFAC 27 (1) • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0216/20252712124 linkcopy

Aspects of general, mental, and auditory health among nursing team members of a public hospital affected by Covid-19

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ABSTRACT

Purpose: to analyze possible impacts on the general, mental and hearing health of nursing workers affected by the COVID-19 virus.

Methods: an exploratory, cross-sectional study, carried out with nursing professionals from a public hospital in Southern Brazil, who answered a questionnaire on general and auditory symptoms after COVID-19 infection, and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI). Statistical analysis was performed using the Chi-square test of independence, the ANOVA test with Tukey's post-test and Pearson's Linear Correlation, with a p-value of 5%.

Results: 52 workers participated (17 nurses, 30 technicians, five aides). The symptoms of headache, loss of smell and taste, fatigue and muscle pain were reported by more than 75% of workers; 80.8% either had already been classified as burnout (40.4%) or featured high scores for exhaustion or work disengagement (40.4%), with a correlation with the symptoms of cough (p=0.0327) and fever (p=0.0235); 44.23% had auditory symptoms, with dizziness/vertigo reported by 34.6% and tinnitus by 13.5%, although without correlation with burnout levels (p=0.4250).

Conclusion: there were impacts on the general, mental and hearing health of nursing workers who were diagnosed with COVID-19, mainly cough and fever, burnout, tinnitus and dizziness.

Keywords: COVID-19; Occupational Health; Signs and Symptoms; Hearing; Tinnitus; Dizziness

Symptom	During the COVID-19		After the COVID-19
Symptom	n	%	n	%
Cephalalgia	42	80.77	11	21.15
Loss of smell/anosmia	41	78.85	12	23.07
Taste disorder/ageusia	40	76.92	9	17.30
Fatigue/astenia	40	76.92	19	36.54
Muscle pain/myalgia	40	76.92	11	21.15
Runny nose	30	57.69	0	0
Cough	25	48.08	0	0
Sore throat	25	48.08	0	0
Fever	23	44.23	0	0
Loss of appetite/hyporexia	22	42.31	0	0
Gastrointestinal disorders, such as nausea/vomit/diarrhea	19	36.54	0	0
Shortness of breath/dyspneia	16	30.77	8	15.38
Otalgia	1	1.92	0	0
Dizziness/vertigo	18	34.61	7	13.46
Tinnitus	7	13.46	3	5.77
High sensitivity to noise	4	7.69	0	0
Hearing loss	4	7.69	1	1.92
Difficulty understanding speech in talks at settings with competitive noise (for example, parties, restaurants, pubs etc.)	3	5.77	0	0
Difficulty understanding speech in talks at quiet settings	3	5.77	0	0
Difficulty memorizing important things (loss of memory)	0	0	17	32.69
Concentration deficit (difficulty keeping attention to what I am doing)	0	0	13	25.00
Mood swings. Anxiety or depression	0	0	13	25.00

Levels of burnout	Gender				Total (n=52)		p-value
	Males (n=13)		Females (n=39)		Total (n=52)
	n	%	n	%	n	%
Burnout
Present	6	46.2	15	38.5	21	40.4	0.8641
Exhaustion or Disengagement	5	38.5	16	41.0	21	40.4
Absent	2	15.3	8	20.5	10	19.2
Exhaustion
High	7	53.8	15	38.5	22	42.3	0.5168
Low	6	46.2	24	61.5	30	57.7	0.5168
Disengagement
High	10	76.9	30	76.9	40	76.9	0.9641
Low	3	23.1	9	23.1	12	23.1	0.9641

General symptoms	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency	Mean Burnout Score	Standard Deviation
Cough*	25	48.1	2.42	0.70
Myalgia	40	76.9	2.34	0.64
Sore throat	25	48.1	2.38	0.64
Fever*	23	44.2	2.43	0.66
Gastrointestinal disorders	19	36.5	2.35	0.68
Anosmia	41	78.8	2.36	0.66
Ageusia	40	76.9	2.39	0.63
Asthenia	40	76.9	2.37	0.65
Dyspnea	16	30.8	2.35	0.69
Hyporexia	22	42.3	2.26	0.63

General symptoms	N	%	Emotional Exhaustion
General symptoms	N	%	Mean score	Standard Deviation
Cough*	25	48.1	2.25	0.80
Myalgia	40	76.9	2.15	0.78
Sore throat	25	48.1	2.18	0.79
Fever	23	44.2	2.23	0.78
Gastrointestinal disorders	19	36.5	2.17	0.83
Anosmia	41	78.8	2.20	0.77
Ageusia	40	76.9	2.21	0.76
Asthenia	40	76.9	2.19	0.78
Dyspnea	16	30.8	2.20	0.87
Hyporexia	22	42.3	2.03	0.80

General symptoms	Occurrence	%	Job Disengagement
General symptoms	Occurrence	%	Mean score	Standard Deviation
Cough	25	48.1	2.61	0.69
Myalgia	40	76.9	2.55	0.67
Sore throat	25	48.1	2.61	0.68
Fever*	23	44.2	2.67	0.67
Gastrointestinal disorders	19	36.5	2.56	0.71
Anosmia	41	78.8	2.55	0.66
Ageusia	40	76.9	2.62	0.65
Asthenia	40	76.9	2.57	0.67
Dyspnea	16	30.8	2.52	0.75
Hyporexia	22	42.3	2.53	0.69

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[TFN1] Note: the participants may report more than one response in the variable: general and hearing symptoms. Captions: n = number; % = percentage.

[TFN2] Source: the author.