Assessment of Attentional Functioning in Health Professionals of a Brazilian Tertiary Referral Hospital for COVID-19
This study is aimed at assessing differences in basic attentional functioning between substantial and minimal work-related exposure to COVID-19 patients in professionals working in a tertiary referral hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Therefore, hospital employees performed a Continuous Visual Att...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Behavioural Neurology |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6655103 |
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| author | Eelco van Duinkerken Guilherme J. Schmidt Ana Lúcia Taboada Gjorup Carolina Ribeiro Mello André Casarsa Marques Áureo do Carmo Filho Paula Regina Yuri Fukusawa Simone Gonçalves de Assis Júlio Cesar Tolentino Sergio L. Schmidt |
| author_facet | Eelco van Duinkerken Guilherme J. Schmidt Ana Lúcia Taboada Gjorup Carolina Ribeiro Mello André Casarsa Marques Áureo do Carmo Filho Paula Regina Yuri Fukusawa Simone Gonçalves de Assis Júlio Cesar Tolentino Sergio L. Schmidt |
| author_sort | Eelco van Duinkerken |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study is aimed at assessing differences in basic attentional functioning between substantial and minimal work-related exposure to COVID-19 patients in professionals working in a tertiary referral hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Therefore, hospital employees performed a Continuous Visual Attention Test. This test consisted of a 90-second Go/No-Go task with 72 (80%) targets and 18 (20%) nontargets. For each participant, reaction time and intraindividual variability of reaction times of all correct target responses, as well as the number of omission and commission errors, were evaluated. Participants were divided into 2 groups based on their exposure to COVID-19 patients (substantial versus minimal exposure). The substantial exposure group consisted of participants with 24 hours/week or more direct contact with COVID-19 patients. This cut-off was based on the clear division between professionals working and not working with COVID-19 patients and considered that 12-hour and 24-hour daily shifts are common for hospital employees in Brazil. A MANCOVA was performed to examine between-group differences, using age, sleep quality, sex, education level, previous COVID-19 infection, and profession as covariates. Of 124 participants, 80 had substantial exposure and 44 had minimal exposure to COVID-19. The overall MANCOVA reached statistical significance (P=0.048). Post hoc ANCOVA analysis showed that the substantial exposure group had a statistically significantly higher intraindividual variability of reaction time of all correct target responses (P=0.017, Cohen’s δ=−0.55). This result remained after removing those with a previous COVID-19 infection (P=0.010, Cohen’s δ=−0.64) and after matching groups for sample size (P=0.004, Cohen’s δ=−0.81). No other variables reached statistical significance. Concluding, hospital professionals with a substantial level of exposure to patients with COVID-19 show a significant attention decrement and, thus, may be at a higher risk of accidental SARS-CoV-2 infection. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bf0b510251024beea1f2c4ccd770c04d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0953-4180 1875-8584 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Behavioural Neurology |
| spelling | doaj-art-bf0b510251024beea1f2c4ccd770c04d2025-02-03T01:27:00ZengWileyBehavioural Neurology0953-41801875-85842021-01-01202110.1155/2021/66551036655103Assessment of Attentional Functioning in Health Professionals of a Brazilian Tertiary Referral Hospital for COVID-19Eelco van Duinkerken0Guilherme J. Schmidt1Ana Lúcia Taboada Gjorup2Carolina Ribeiro Mello3André Casarsa Marques4Áureo do Carmo Filho5Paula Regina Yuri Fukusawa6Simone Gonçalves de Assis7Júlio Cesar Tolentino8Sergio L. Schmidt9Department of Neurology, University Hospital Gaffrée and Guinle, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrazilDepartment of Neurology, University Hospital Gaffrée and Guinle, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrazilDepartment of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Gaffrée and Guinle, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrazilDepartment of Anesthesiology, University Hospital Gaffrée and Guinle, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrazilDepartment of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Gaffrée and Guinle, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrazilDepartment of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Gaffrée and Guinle, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrazilEducation and Research Unit, University Hospital Gaffrée and Guinle, EBSERH, Federal Ministry of Education and Culture, BrazilDepartment of Neurology, University Hospital Gaffrée and Guinle, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrazilDepartment of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Gaffrée and Guinle, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrazilDepartment of Neurology, University Hospital Gaffrée and Guinle, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrazilThis study is aimed at assessing differences in basic attentional functioning between substantial and minimal work-related exposure to COVID-19 patients in professionals working in a tertiary referral hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Therefore, hospital employees performed a Continuous Visual Attention Test. This test consisted of a 90-second Go/No-Go task with 72 (80%) targets and 18 (20%) nontargets. For each participant, reaction time and intraindividual variability of reaction times of all correct target responses, as well as the number of omission and commission errors, were evaluated. Participants were divided into 2 groups based on their exposure to COVID-19 patients (substantial versus minimal exposure). The substantial exposure group consisted of participants with 24 hours/week or more direct contact with COVID-19 patients. This cut-off was based on the clear division between professionals working and not working with COVID-19 patients and considered that 12-hour and 24-hour daily shifts are common for hospital employees in Brazil. A MANCOVA was performed to examine between-group differences, using age, sleep quality, sex, education level, previous COVID-19 infection, and profession as covariates. Of 124 participants, 80 had substantial exposure and 44 had minimal exposure to COVID-19. The overall MANCOVA reached statistical significance (P=0.048). Post hoc ANCOVA analysis showed that the substantial exposure group had a statistically significantly higher intraindividual variability of reaction time of all correct target responses (P=0.017, Cohen’s δ=−0.55). This result remained after removing those with a previous COVID-19 infection (P=0.010, Cohen’s δ=−0.64) and after matching groups for sample size (P=0.004, Cohen’s δ=−0.81). No other variables reached statistical significance. Concluding, hospital professionals with a substantial level of exposure to patients with COVID-19 show a significant attention decrement and, thus, may be at a higher risk of accidental SARS-CoV-2 infection.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6655103 |
| spellingShingle | Eelco van Duinkerken Guilherme J. Schmidt Ana Lúcia Taboada Gjorup Carolina Ribeiro Mello André Casarsa Marques Áureo do Carmo Filho Paula Regina Yuri Fukusawa Simone Gonçalves de Assis Júlio Cesar Tolentino Sergio L. Schmidt Assessment of Attentional Functioning in Health Professionals of a Brazilian Tertiary Referral Hospital for COVID-19 Behavioural Neurology |
| title | Assessment of Attentional Functioning in Health Professionals of a Brazilian Tertiary Referral Hospital for COVID-19 |
| title_full | Assessment of Attentional Functioning in Health Professionals of a Brazilian Tertiary Referral Hospital for COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | Assessment of Attentional Functioning in Health Professionals of a Brazilian Tertiary Referral Hospital for COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessment of Attentional Functioning in Health Professionals of a Brazilian Tertiary Referral Hospital for COVID-19 |
| title_short | Assessment of Attentional Functioning in Health Professionals of a Brazilian Tertiary Referral Hospital for COVID-19 |
| title_sort | assessment of attentional functioning in health professionals of a brazilian tertiary referral hospital for covid 19 |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6655103 |
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