Estresse acadêmico e transtorno de compulsão alimentar em estudantes de medicina durante a pandemia do coronavírus

Introduction: medical students have high levels of stress due to being exposed to intense responsibilities and direct contact with human suffering. These factors predispose to the occurrence of eating disorders, commonly binge eating disorder. Objective: to highlight academic stress factors and maladaptive eating behaviors in medical students at Faculdade Pernambucana de Saúde (FPS), as well as the influence of the experienced pandemic scenario. Method: this is a cross-sectional study. Medical students from all FPS periods were invited to participate in this research, which was approved by the Research Ethics Committee with CAAE: 53687821.6.0000.5569. Information was obtained through a sociodemographic questionnaire that included validated scales for assessing academic stress (NISESTE) and binge eating (ECAP/BES). Data were correlated by Kendall's correlation coefficient in addition to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Normality test for quantitative variables. A value of p < 0.05 was considered. Results: data was obtained from 230 students and more than 90% of them had severe or moderate binge eating (AB), with half (50.9%) reporting the occurrence of compulsive eating episodes during the coronavirus pandemic. Difficulty concentrating in class/teacher and concern with internships (Factors 4 and 5) were the most common academic stress factors, and the perception of inferiority (factor 6) was statistically correlated (P<0.05) with the occurrence of HERE. Conclusion: it was identified that AC occurred in most medical students and was correlated with academic stress factors. It was also suggested that the social isolation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic had an influence on the manifestation of episodes of compulsive eating.