Percepción del Riesgo de Cáncer de Piel en un Hospital de Altura: Risk Perception of Skin Cancer at a High-Altitude Hospital

Objective: To determine the level of risk perception of skin cancer in a population from Cusco. Materials and methods: It is an observational descriptive cross-sectional study and was aplied in a skin cancer screening campaign in Cusco. The applied questionnaire was designed and validated by Morales-Sánchez M and Cols, and it measures the risk perception of skin cancer. The reported Cronbach's alpha value is 0.824. Results: The majority of patients were female (64.7%), average age was 44.9 years (SD: 14.2) and the 51.0% had higher education level. The median hours of sun exposure was 4 (95% CI: 1-6), the most frequent origin was from Cusco (77.6%) and most of the population have normal risk perception of skin cancer (65.8%). Conclusion: The risk perception of skin cancer was normal in the majority of the population. Keywords: Skin Neoplasms, Perception, Health Behavior, AttitudeObjetivo: Determinar el nivel de percepción de riesgo de cáncer de piel en una población de Cusco. Materiales y métodos: El estudio es observacional de tipo transversal descriptivo y se llevó a cabo en una campaña de despistaje de cáncer de piel en la ciudad de Cusco. El cuestionario aplicado fue diseñado y validado por Morales-Sánchez M y Cols, y mide la percepción de riesgo de cáncer de piel. El valor de alfa de Cronbach reportado es de 0,824. Resultados: La mayoría de pacientes fue de sexo femenino (64,7%), de edad promedio fue de 44,9 años (DS: 14,2) y de grado de educación superior (51,0%). La mediana de horas de exposición solar fue de 4 (IC95%: 1 – 6), la procedencia más frecuente fue del Cusco (77,6%) y con una percepción normal del cáncer de piel (65,8%). Conclusión: La percepción de riesgo de cáncer de piel fue normal en la mayoría de la población. Palabras clave: Percepción, Neoplasias Cutáneas, Actitudes y Práctica en Salu

Depression, anxiety, and stress in health professionals working during the covid-19 pandemic in Peru: An analytical cross-sectional study

Objective: To determine the association between depression, anxiety, and stress according to sociodemographic and occupational factors in Peruvian health professionals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: Cross-sectional analytical and multicentre study, based on a virtual survey sent to Peruvian health personnel (from the 25 Peruvian regions) working during the COVID-19 pandemic. The three dependent variables (depression, anxiety, and stress) were measured with the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale -21 (DASS-21) (Cronbach’s Alpha: 0.93) and compared with sociodemographic and occupational variables. P-values were obtained through generalized linear models, adjusted for each location where the survey was sent. Results: Of the 550 participants, 2%, 13%, and 3% of them had severe or very severe depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, we observed that professionals with a greater number of children had a lower frequency of severe depression (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR): 0.37; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.17-0.79; p = 0.010). In addition, physicians had a lower frequency of severe anxiety (aPR: 0.37; 95% CI: 0.18-0.75; p = 0.036), and professionals who lived in the Central region (aPR: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.25-0.97; p = 0.042) and in the South of the country (aPR: 0.37; 95% CI: 0.19-0.71; p = 0.003) had lower anxiety levels compared to those in the Northern region. With regard to severe stress, those who lived in the Central (aPR: 0.15; 95% CI: 0.03-0.75; p = 0.021) and South regions (aPR: 0.19; 95% CI: 0.04-0.79; p = 0.011) had lower stress levels. Conclusion: There were significant percentages of deteriorating mental health in Peruvian health professionals during the pandemic, which may have negative repercussions in the short-, medium-, and long-term. In this sense, additional governmental actions should be necessary to provide specific psychological and psychiatric support programs to these workers