Abstract
BackgroundNeurological symptoms are increasingly being noted among COVID-19 patients. Currently, there is little data on the mental health of neurological healthcare workers. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence and influencing factors on anxiety and depression in neurological healthcare workers in Hunan Province, China during the early stage of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.MethodsAn online cross-sectional study was conducted among neurological doctors and nurses in early February 2020 in Hunan Province. Symptoms of anxiety and depression were assessed by the Chinese version of the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) (defined as a total score ≥ 50) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) (defined as a total score ≥ 53). The prevalences of probable anxiety and depression were compared between different groups, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to understand the independent influencing factors on anxiety and depression.ResultsThe prevalence of probable anxiety and depression in neurological nurses (20.3 and 30.2%, respectively) was higher than that in doctors (12.6 and 20.2%, respectively). Female healthcare workers (18.4%) had a higher proportion of anxiety than males (10.8%). Probable anxiety and depression were more prevalent among nurses, younger workers (≤ 40 years), and medical staff with junior titles. Logistic regression analysis showed that a shortage of protective equipment was independently associated with probable anxiety (OR = 1.980, 95% CI: 1.241–3.160, P = 0.004), while young age was a risk factor for probable depression (OR = 2.293, 95% CI: 1.137–4.623, P = 0.020) among neurological healthcare workers.ConclusionsProbable anxiety and depression were more prevalent among neurological nurses than doctors in Hunan Province. The shortage of protective equipment led to probable anxiety, and young age led to probable depression in healthcare workers in neurology departments, which merits attention during the battle against COVID-19.
Highlights
Neurological symptoms are increasingly being noted among COVID-19 patients
20.1% of all subjects were above 40 years and 79.9% below or equal to 40 years, and nurses were younger than doctors, with 90.5% of nurses below 40 years old
210 (34.3%) agreed, 108 (17.6%) disagreed, and 294 (48.0%) were uncertain that the department of neurology was a high-risk place for COVID-19 (P = 0.002), and the proportion in agreement was higher for nurses than doctors
Summary
Neurological symptoms are increasingly being noted among COVID-19 patients. Currently, there is little data on the mental health of neurological healthcare workers. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence and influencing factors on anxiety and depression in neurological healthcare workers in Hunan Province, China during the early stage of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. After first emerging in Wuhan, China in December 2019, the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), dubbed COVID-19, quickly spread throughout the world [1]. This new coronavirus has turned out to be much more infectious than severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARSCoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which caused massive outbreaks [2, 3]. Respiratory droplets and person-to-person contact are defined routes of transmission for coronavirus infection, while transmission via the airborne, fecal-oral and aerosol routes remains ambiguous [12,13,14]
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