Prevalence of posttraumatic stress symptoms in health care workers after exposure to patients with COVID-19

Hao Chen; Bin Wang; Yanbo Cheng; Bilal Muhammad; Shengli Li; Zhigang Miao; Bo Wan; Mannan Abdul; Zhong Zhao; Deqin Geng; Xingshun Xu

doi:10.1016/j.ynstr.2020.100261

Prevalence of posttraumatic stress symptoms in health care workers after exposure to patients with COVID-19

Neurobiol Stress. 2020 Oct 17:13:100261. doi: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2020.100261. eCollection 2020 Nov.

Authors

Hao Chen^{1

2}, Bin Wang³, Yanbo Cheng², Bilal Muhammad², Shengli Li⁴, Zhigang Miao³, Bo Wan³, Mannan Abdul⁵, Zhong Zhao⁶, Deqin Geng², Xingshun Xu^{1

3

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou City, China.
² Department of Neurology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou City, China.
³ Institute of Neuroscience, Soochow University, Suzhou City, China.
⁴ Department of Medical Records and Statistics, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou City, China.
⁵ Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology, School of Anesthesiology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou City, China.
⁶ Department of Neurology, The Affiliated Suzhou Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou City, China.
⁷ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neuropsychiatric Diseases, Soochow University, Suzhou City, China.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) of health care workers (HCWs) who were potentially or directly exposed to patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in a non-core epidemic area of China.

Methods: Psychological conditions were evaluated by the multiple psychological evaluation scales in HCWs at the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University in Xuzhou City (a non-core epidemic area in China) during COVID-19 epidemic. According to the risk of exposure to COVID-19 patients, HCWs were divided into two groups: HCWs with high-risk (HHCW) group (who worked in wards for COVID-19 patients) and HCWs with low-risk (LHCW) group (who worked in wards for non-COVID-19 patients in the same hospital). The clinical data of psychological evaluation scales from HCWs were collected.

Results: A total of 171 HCWs were recruited in this study, with 94 (55.0%) HCWs in the HHCW group, and 77 (45.0%) HCWs in the LHCW group. Significant differences were observed in gender, work stress, job risk, and levels of fear and anxiety, and the depression between the two groups (P < 0.05). The incidence of PTSS was 28.7% in HHCW group, while the incidence of PTSS was 13.0% in LHCW group. The PTSS between the two groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Further logistic regression analysis displayed that the exposure to COVID-19, work stress and coping strategies were major risk factors associated with PTSS.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that HCWs in HHCW group had a higher chance of developing PTSS when compared with those in LHCW group. The HCWs who were exposed to COVID-19 patients had more stress and chronic stress-related disorders. Stress management should be provided to the first line HCWs who combat with COVID-19.

Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19; Insomnia; Post-trauma stress disorders; SARS-CoV-2; Stress.