Abstract
Background: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly increased the rate of mortality and morbidity worldwide due to its rapid transmission rate. The mental health status of individuals could have a negative impact attributed to this global situation. Therefore, this study was intended to explore the symptoms of depression and anxiety among healthcare workers (HCWs) of Pakistan during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken by administering a web-based questionnaire between May and June 2020. Two tools, including the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), were employed to measure anxiety and depression symptoms among HCWs. The data analyses were carried out using descriptive statistics, Man Whitney, and Kruskal Wallis tests.Results: Of 1094 HCWs who participated in this online survey, 742 (67.8%) were physicians, followed by nurses (n = 277, 25.3%) and pharmacists (n = 75, 6.9%). The survey respondents had a median depression and anxiety score of 5.00 (7.00–3.00) and 8.00 (11.00–5.00), respectively. A considerable number of HCWs (82.2%) utilized online psychological resources to deal with their psychological distress. Female HCWs, nurses, frontline HCWs, and HCWs aged 30–49 years were more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety (p < 0.05).Conclusion: During the recent ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, there is a mild level of symptoms of depression and anxiety among HCWs. Our findings call for urgent psychological interventions for vulnerable groups of Pakistani HCWs.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is currently a major challenge for public health globally [1]
A large number of participants, 991 (90.6), reported that they have not been diagnosed with COVID-19; 894 (81.7%) said that their friend or neighbor is suffering from COVID-19
A vast majority (n = 903, 82.5%) of healthcare workers (HCWs) reported that their current precautionary measures are not helpful enough to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 (Table 3)
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is currently a major challenge for public health globally [1]. The healthcare system of every country has been paralyzed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which amplifies the rate of mortality and morbidity. Pakistan being a developing country, has 197 million inhabitants It consists of four provinces Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and three territories (Gilgit–Baltistan, Islamabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir) [4]. In Pakistan, the first two confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported on 26 February 2020, which later on challenged the healthcare system of every region of Pakistan [5]. There are 630,471 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 13,863 deaths in Pakistan. This study was intended to explore the symptoms of depression and anxiety among healthcare workers (HCWs) of Pakistan during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
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