Analytical report of anxiety and depression of 130 first-line medical staff against COVID-19

Abstract

Objective This study aims to understand the anxiety and depressive symptoms among the front-line medical staff against the COVID-19 and the related factors. Methods 130 front-line medical staff from Tianyou Hospital Affiliated to Wuhan University of science and technology were assessed by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), the Patient Health Questionnaires (PHQ-9) scale, and the simple self-designed questionnaire (including 8 factors related to anxiety and depressive symptoms). The prevalence of anxiety and depression of different participants according to demographic characteristics were compared with χ2 test. The association between depression/anxiety and impact factors was analyzed using the Pearson correlation method. Results 48 people had anxiety and depressive symptoms, accounting for 36.9% (48/130) of the total sample. 41 people had anxiety symptoms, accounting for 31.8% (41/130) of the total sample. 36 people had depressive symptoms, accounting for 27.7% (36/130) of the total sample. Gender, age, marital status, education level, occupation, professional title, department, and duration of taking part in the fight against the COVID-19 had no correlation with the prevalence of anxiety. Gender, age, marital status, occupation, professional title, department, and duration of taking part in the fight against the COVID-19 had no correlation with the prevalence of depression, however education level had correlation with the prevalence of depression (χ2=5.220, P=0.034). Disease factor, work factor, time factor, and safety factor were all related to anxiety and depression. The proportion of management factors in the anxiety group was significantly higher than that in the group without anxiety (χ2=13.578, P<0.01). The proportion of other factors in the group without anxiety was significantly higher than that in the group with anxiety(χ2=6.229, P=0.012). The severity of anxiety and depression was positively correlated with disease factor, work factor, time factor, safety factor, and management factor, and negatively correlated with other factors (r=-0.287, P<0.05). Conclusion There were anxiety and depressive symptoms in front-line medical staff against COVID-19, which was significantly related to the characteristics of the COVID-19 epidemic. It is necessary to carry out psychological intervention for this population. Key words: Anxiety; Depression; Medical staff; Health surveys; COVID-19