PTSD Among Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Study Raises Concern for Non-medical Staff in Low-Risk Areas.

Ruike Zhang,Jingwen He,Lei Xiao,Yunxiang Tang,Shuyu Xu,Hao Wang,Guibin Wang,Yujia Huang,Tianya Hou,Tong Su,Yajing Wang,Xiangyu Kong,Jing Du,Jingzhou Xu

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.696200

Ruike Zhang, Jingwen He + Show 12 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.696200

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Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of sleep quality and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms of healthcare workers (HCWs) and identify the determinants for PTSD symptoms among HCWs in high-risk and low-risk areas during the COVID-19 outbreak in China.Methods: The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Impact of Event Scale were used to assess sleep quality and symptoms of PTSD of 421 Chinese HCWs, respectively, from January 30 to March 2, 2020. The influencing factors of PTSD symptoms were identified by univariate analysis and multiple regression.Results: The incidence of HCWs getting PTSD symptoms were 13.2%. HCWs from high-risk areas had significantly poorer sleep quality (p < 0.001). Poor sleep quality was the risk factor of PTSD symptoms for HCWs from high-risk (p = 0.018) and low-risk areas (p < 0.001). Furthermore, non-medical staff were found to be the risk factor for PTSD symptoms only in low-risk areas.Discussion: HCWs in Hubei had poorer sleep quality. Non-medical HCWs from low-risk areas were associated with more severe PTSD symptoms. Mental health programs should be considered for HCWs, especially those who are often overlooked.

Highlights

Several pneumonia cases of unknown etiology were first detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in China at the end of 2019 and the World Health Organization (WHO), China Office, was informed in a timely manner and responded to the outbreak of Novel Corona-virus (COVID-19) on January 5, 2020 [1]
In light of the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic and the stress experienced by Healthcare workers (HCWs), intense researches have investigated the psychological impact of the HCWs during the pandemic
Some research focused on low-risk epidemic areas has found that the mental problems of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), depression and anxiety were found both in high-risk and low-risk HCWs [13, 14]

Summary

Introduction

Several pneumonia cases of unknown etiology were first detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in China at the end of 2019 and the World Health Organization (WHO), China Office, was informed in a timely manner and responded to the outbreak of Novel Corona-virus (COVID-19) on January 5, 2020 [1]. In light of the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic and the stress experienced by HCWs, intense researches have investigated the psychological impact of the HCWs during the pandemic. Research has shown that HCWs experienced higher psychological morbidity, especially high-risk HCWs [8,9,10,11]. A study has found that even in areas where the epidemic was not so severe, the risk of infection for HCWs is still higher than that of general population [12]. Some research focused on low-risk epidemic areas has found that the mental problems of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), depression and anxiety were found both in high-risk and low-risk HCWs [13, 14]

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