(PO-183) (PO-183) An analysis of the implications of COVID-19 on the mental health of population in social vulnerability in Brazil

In Brazil, COVID-19 has shown a high mortality rate, being the most significant cause of deaths by disease in 2021. The first confirmed case in this country was on February 26, 2020, in São Paulo. A year has passed and it recorded 12 million confirmed cases and 303 thousand deaths. The novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has brought up that the mainly affected people are the most socially vulnerable, which increases their risk of contamination. Several factors can be pointed, such as increasing the susceptibility to depression, anxiety, insomnia, harmful use of alcohol, as well as the generation of possible cognitive impairments. This work focus on identifying and analyzing the main impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic brought to the mental health of people in social vulnerability in Brazil. Eighteen manuscripts have been selected, in brazilian Portuguese and English languages. The review was conducted using Google Scholar and PubMed databases. The research was executed using the descriptors indexed in the DeCS: "COVID-19", "social vulnerability" and "mental health". Through the analysis of the selected articles, some factors stood out as aggravating mental health in vulnerable communities. Moreover, there were obstacles establishing prevention and protection measures, such as inadequate housing conditions and poor sanitation, elderly people, individuals with any underlying medical conditions, ethnicity and cultural issues are the most cited and enhanced causes. Second, decreased income and geographic distribution contributed to the negative impact on the population's mental health, followed by gender and decreased education levels. The least cited factors were civil status and patient exposure to COVID-19. It is also known that people behave differently, and many reasons can damage an individual's mental health. As a result, the search for reasons that can aggravate mental health in vulnerable people is an important arsenal for public interventions focused on monitoring people's mental health in social vulnerability situations, considering that they are the most affected in this global health crisis. Furthermore, additional studies are needed in order to consider regional particularities.