A multinational, multicentre study on the psychological outcomes and associated physical symptoms amongst healthcare workers during COVID-19 outbreak

Abstract

Objective: Since the declaration of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak as pandemic, there are reports on the increased prevalence of physical symptoms observed in the general population. We investigated the association between psychological outcomes and physical symptoms among healthcare workers. Methods: Healthcare workers from 5 major hospitals, involved in the care for COVID-19 patients, in Singapore and India were invited to participate in a study by performing a self-administered questionnaire within the period of February 19 to April 17, 2020. Healthcare workers included doctors, nurses, allied healthcare workers, administrators, clerical staff and maintenance workers. This questionnaire collected information on demographics, medical history, symptom prevalence in the past month, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) and the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) instrument. The prevalence of physical symptoms displayed by healthcare workers and the associations between physical symptoms and psychological outcomes of depression, anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were evaluated. Results: Out of the 906 healthcare workers who participated in the survey, 48 (5.3%) screened positive for moderate to very-severe depression, 79 (8.7%) for moderate to extremely-severe anxiety, 20 (2.2%) for moderate to extremely-severe stress, and 34 (3.8%) for moderate to severe levels of psychological distress. The commonest reported symptom was headache (32.3%), with a large number of participants (33.4%) reporting more than four symptoms. Participants who had experienced symptoms in the preceding month were more likely to be older, have pre-existing comorbidities and a positive screen for depression, anxiety, stress, and PTSD. After adjusting for age, gender and comorbidities, it was found that depression (OR 2.79, 95% CI 1.54-5.07, p = 0.001), anxiety (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.36-3.48, p = 0.001), stress (OR 3.06, 95% CI 1.27-7.41, p = 0.13), and PTSD (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.12-4.35, p = 0.023) remained significantly associated with the presence of physical

Anxiety and Depression Symptoms of Patients in Fangcang Shelter Hospital During the COVID-19 Outbreak in China: a Web-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…Sleep is an important time for the recuperation and rejuvenation of the brain. Unfortunately, a substantial body literature showed stressful life events and outbreaks of infectious disease including COVID-19 can affect the sleep quality [21,[26][27][28][29], 84.69% of the participants in our study with the poor sleep quality demonstrate it again. Using the correlation analysis, we also found levels of anxiety symptoms are associate with sleep quality in COVID-19 patients admitted to shelter Fangcang hospital.…”

Studies of Novel Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Global Analysis of Literature

“…Although such measures have sdemonstrated their effectiveness, for optimal public health as well as economic outcomes, further investigation into their implementation within specific contextual factors should be prioritized. 46 Moreover, continued medical training for healthcare workers 47 and preventive measures for the workforce, 48 is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.…”

Effects of COVID-19 on Anxiety, Depression and Other Mental Health Issues: A worldwide scope review.

“…Moghanibashi-Mansourieh (2020),10 in applying an online questionnaire to 10,754 participants, found that the level of severe anxiety was serious for 9.3% of the participants and very serious for 9.8%. Chew et al (2020),28 conducting research among health professionals (n = 906), found that 8.7% (n = 79) of participants suffered from moderate to extremely severe anxiety, while Ahmed et al (2020)30 found a higher anxiety rate (29%), dangerous, harmful alcohol consumption or alcohol dependence (30%), and lower than usual mental well-being (32.1%) among the 1,074 individuals in the Chinese province of Hubei who answered the online questionnaire.…”

“…Corr, P.J. (28) The study suggested that the participants were experiencing psychological conflict: between the urge to stay safe (FFFF-related) and the desire to maintain a normal, pleasurable (RR-related) life. Forms of ameliorating conflict can sometimes include maladaptive behaviors (panic buying), reflecting rewardrelated displacement activity.…”