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

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.

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the “COVID Stress Scales” in Greek

“…Also, we found that COVID-19 traumatic stress is another factor in our five-model factor. The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder due to the COVID-19 pandemic is high not only to health professionals but also to the general population (Caruso et al, 2021; d’Ettorre et al, 2021; Li et al, 2021; Nagarajan et al, 2022; Sahebi et al, 2021). The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic reaches 15% in the general population and 21.5% in healthcare workers.…”

Influencing Factors of High PTSD Among Medical Staff During COVID-19: Evidences From Both Meta-analysis and Subgroup Analysis

“…The medical security service is very important, so the top priority is to solve the problem of PTSD prevalence of medical staff. In the previously published meta-analysis[ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ], the impact on the mental health of medical staff of different races during the COVID-19 pandemic was partly mentioned while not consistent. Some studies pointed out that the distribution areas were different; races were different, the mode of education and income were different, the fear of infection and the lack of confidence in the vaccine were related to the changes of mental state [ 26 , 27 ].…”

Prevalence of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder After Flood: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The results of another meta-analysis study showed that the prevalence of PTSD after the earthquakes and floods in the children and teenager in the first, second, third and fourth 6-month period was 19.2, 30, 24.4 as well as 20.4%, respectively ( 40 ). The results of another review study showed the prevalence of PTSD among Health Care Workers during the COVID-19 was 13.52% ( 41 ). By comparing the results of the present study with the previous studies, it can be concluded that the prevalence of PTSD after the flood is high like other natural disasters and all age groups are at risk of mental disorders after the flood, especially PTSD.…”