Mental status of healthcare professionals according to the level of exposure to COVID-19 patient during the pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The frontline healthcare workers during the coronavirus outbreak work under intense pressure while working in close contact with COVID-19 patients, and can subsequently develop mental health-related problems. This study aimed to evaluate the mental impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers according to exposure level. Material and Method: This cross-sectional study included a total of 282 participants. Healthcare workers were divided into two groups as low-risk contact and high-risk contact according to the degree of contact with the coronavirus. Anxiety, depression, and insomnia were evaluated among the groups using the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scales. Results: One hundred seventy eight (62.4%) women and 104 (36.8%) men, with a mean age of 24.59 years were included in this study. The number of low-risk patients was 180 (63.8%), while the number of high-risk patients was 102 (36.1%). In addition, according to the multivariate analysis, staff working in the department with high-risk contact had significantly lower high to suffer anxiety (OR 1.283, 95% CI 1.109-1.483, p=0.001), depression (OR 1.052, 95% CI 1.019-1.088, p=0.001) and insomnia (OR 3.460, 95% CI 2.506-4.784, p<0.001). Conclusion: Our results show that healthcare workers working in high-risk contact units for exposure to COVID-19 have high levels of anxiety, depression, and insomnia than healthcare workers working in low-risk contact units.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• medical staff
• anxiety
• depression
• insomnia

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