Assessment of the impact of current COVID-19 infection on the quality of life in navy mariners

Introduction. The quality of life of navy mariners has a significant impact on the readiness to perform military tasks, which determines the relevance of studying the factors that negatively affect it.

The purpose of the study is to assess the impact of a new coronavirus infection COVID-19 on the quality of life in navy mariners.

Material and methods. During the period from June to July 2021, 265 navy mariners were interviewed on a WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. The quality of life in this study is considered as a summary indicator of a person’s perception of his physical, mental, emotional and social functioning. There was carried out the calculation of relative values, arithmetic mean with a 95% confidence interval. Comparative analysis using the Mann–Whitney test, correlation and regression analysis were used.

Results. 115 respondents (43.4%) noted the past COVID-19, the non-sick soldiers made up the comparison group (n = 150). Asymptomatic form was found in 15.7%, mild form — 48.7%, moderate — 32.2% and severe form — 3.5% in the general structure. In the postcovid period, asthenic syndrome (53.9%), dyspnea (38.3%), sleep disorders (17.4%), joint pain (15.7%) were noted most often. Significant differences (p = 0.041) were found in the assessment of the social well-being of the comparison group and the sick navy mariners. A significant effect of the severity of the disease was established on the assessment of the microsocial support sphere (p = 0.035), and dyspnoe — on the assessment of the self-perception sphere (p = 0.018) and microsocial support (p = 0.007).

Limitations of the study. The volume of the sample population of 265 persons represented by the personnel of submarines under construction and under repair; climatogeographic features of the region; cross-sectional nature of the study.

Conclusion. The new coronavirus infection has a significant impact on various areas of the quality of life of navy mariners, which makes it important to conduct full rehabilitation after COVID-19, psychological support for servicemen in submarine crews during the pandemic, conduct preventive vaccinations, improve the quality of medical examinations.

Compliance with ethical standards: all interviewees received full information about the study and signed informed consent. Study approved by Northern State Medical University’s local ethics committee.

Contribution of the authors:
Dybin A.S. — research concept, research design, research organization, collection of literature data, collection of material and processing of data.
Menshikova L.I. — research design, editing.
Poteryaev A.E. — research organization, editing.
Shapovalov P.Yu. — research organization, collection of material and processing of data.
Yanborisov S.P., Tumilovich O.A. — collection of material and processing of data.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Acknowledgment. The study had no sponsorship.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare that there are no clear and potential conflicts of interest in connection with the publication of this article.

Received: March 30, 2022
Accepted: April 27, 2022
Published: June 28, 2022