Correlation between the event of the COVID-19 pandemic and symptoms of anxiety, depression and temporomandibular disorder in university students: cross-sectional study

HIGHLIGHTS 78.2% of participants with symptoms of anxiety and 54.5% of participants with symptoms of depression reported a high level of parafunction, while 71.5% of participants who reported painful TMD symptoms had symptoms of anxiety and 52% of depression. The presence of anxiety symptoms was more prevalent than depression among participants with painful symptoms associated with TMD. This study has provided insights into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on painful TMD symptoms in university students and the influence of psychological factors such as anxiety and depression. The results observed in this study indicate consequences that may perpetuate after the COVID-19 pandemic period and instigate further studies. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic has been shown to be a probable aggravator of psychological responses such as anxiety and depression. This study aimed to assess the correlation between symptoms of anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic and the existence of symptoms associated with temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD) in a Brazilian university population. METHODS: This epidemiological, cross-sectional clinical study evaluated its variables of interest using the COVID-19 Fear Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A and HADS-D), Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Dysfunction (DC/TMD) and Oral Behavior Checklist (OBC) questionnaires. RESULTS: A total of 373 participants (females = 273) with a mean age of 23.8±5.45 years were included in this study. In addition, 78.2% of participants with anxiety symptoms and 54.5% of participants with depression symptoms reported a high level of TMD-related parafunction (p<0.01). The presence of anxiety symptoms increased the odds of developing intense fear of COVID-19 by 14.9 times (p<0.001) and the odds of developing moderate fear of COVID-19 by 3.5 times (p<0.001). The presence of an intense fear of COVID-19 increased the chances of developing anxiety symptoms by 17.15 times (p<0.001), while the presence of a moderate fear increased these chances by 3.12 times (p<0.001). In addition, the presence of intense (p=0.01) or moderate (p=0.018) COVID-19 fears increased the odds of developing TMD-related pain symptoms by 2.47 and 1.84 times, respectively, in this population. CONCLUSION: The presence of painful TMD symptoms was possibly influenced by fear of COVID-19. This, in turn, was related to the presence of anxiety and depression symptoms reported by the target population of this study.