The Prevalence of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Among Health Care Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Umbrella Review and Meta-Analysis.

Atefeh Yousefi,Hojjat Sheikhbardsiri,Siamak Moayedi,Mercedes Torres,Ali Sahebi,Yousef Jamshidbeigi,Kamel Abdi,Mohamad Golitaleb,Ulrich Wesemann

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.764738

Abstract

Introduction: Frontline health care workers (HCWs) have had an increased risk of developing health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to physical illness, they have experienced mental health challenges, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of PTSD among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic via an umbrella review and meta-analysis.Methods: This study was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline to perform a systematic literature search using various medical databases (Web of science, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, ProQuest, Science Direct, Embase, and Google scholar). The search included all articles published through the first of January 2020 the end of March 2021. The systematic review and meta-analysis studies that reported the prevalence of PTSD among health care workers were included in the study, and studies that reported the prevalence of PTSD in normal people or other epidemics were excluded. The random effects model was used to perform a meta-analysis, and the I2 index was used to evaluate heterogeneity among studies. Publication bias was assessed using the Egger test. Data was analyzed using STATA (version 14) software.Results: The initial literature search yielded 145 studies. After excluding duplicates and assessing the quality of the studies, 7 studies were selected for meta-analysis. The results showed that the overall prevalence of PTSD among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic was 13.52% (95% CI: 9.06–17.98, I2 = 65.5%, p = 0.008).Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of PTSD among frontline HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to invest in efforts to screen HCWs for mental health disorders such as PTSD and provide them with mental health support.

Highlights

Frontline health care workers (HCWs) have had an increased risk of developing health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic
Studies have shown an increase in the incidence of feelings of anger, fear-avoidance behaviors, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [8, 9]
One Chinese study showed that the prevalence of PTSD among HCWs during the COVID-19 crisis was about 9.8%

Summary

Introduction

Frontline health care workers (HCWs) have had an increased risk of developing health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, HCWs have played a vital role by providing direct care for some of the most severely affected patients [10] They are continually exposed to physical and psychological stressors associated with this work [11]. Many have reported increased feelings of irritability, anger, depressed mood, and emotional instability These individuals are at a higher risk for developing PTSD when compared with the general population [12, 13]. This risk is partly attributable to a work environment where many HCWs lack appropriate supplies of personal protective equipment. Those most likely to experience PTSD in this study were nurses who worked on the frontlines and expressed a lack of confidence in protective measures [15, 16]

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Discussion

Conclusion