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

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

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.764738

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

Front Psychiatry. 2021 Nov 15:12:764738. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.764738. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Ali Sahebi¹, Atefeh Yousefi², Kamel Abdi³, Yousef Jamshidbeigi⁴, Siamak Moayedi⁵, Mercedes Torres⁵, Ulrich Wesemann⁶, Hojjat Sheikhbardsiri⁷, Mohamad Golitaleb⁸

Affiliations

¹ Non-communicable Diseases Research Center, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran.
² Neurology Resident, Department of Neurology, Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
³ Nursing Department, Faculty of Medicine, Komar University of Science and Technology, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.
⁴ Department of Anesthesia, School of Paramedical, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran.
⁵ Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychotraumatology, Bundeswehr Hospital, Berlin, Germany.
⁷ Health in Disasters and Emergencies Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
⁸ Department of Nursing, School of Nursing, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.

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 I ² 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, I ² = 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.

Keywords: COVID-19; HCWs; Health Care Provider; PTSD; stress disorder.

Publication types

Systematic Review