Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020;89(4):242-250.
doi: 10.1159/000507639. Epub 2020 Apr 9.

Mental Health and Psychosocial Problems of Medical Health Workers during the COVID-19 Epidemic in China

Wen-Rui Zhang  1 , Kun Wang  1   2 , Lu Yin  3 , Wen-Feng Zhao  1 , Qing Xue  1 , Mao Peng  1 , Bao-Quan Min  1 , Qing Tian  4 , Hai-Xia Leng  1 , Jia-Lin Du  1 , Hong Chang  1 , Yuan Yang  5 , Wei Li  6 , Fang-Fang Shangguan  7 , Tian-Yi Yan  8 , Hui-Qing Dong  1 , Ying Han  1 , Yu-Ping Wang  1   9   10 , Fiammetta Cosci  11 , Hong-Xing Wang  12   13   14   15
Affiliations

Mental Health and Psychosocial Problems of Medical Health Workers during the COVID-19 Epidemic in China

Wen-Rui Zhang et al. Psychother Psychosom. 2020.

Abstract

Objective: We explored whether medical health workers had more psychosocial problems than nonmedical health workers during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Methods: An online survey was run from February 19 to March 6, 2020; a total of 2,182 Chinese subjects participated. Mental health variables were assessed via the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the Symptom Check List-revised (SCL-90-R), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4), which included a 2-item anxiety scale and a 2-item depression scale (PHQ-2).

Results: Compared with nonmedical health workers (n = 1,255), medical health workers (n = 927) had a higher prevalence of insomnia (38.4 vs. 30.5%, p < 0.01), anxiety (13.0 vs. 8.5%, p < 0.01), depression (12.2 vs. 9.5%; p< 0.04), somatization (1.6 vs. 0.4%; p < 0.01), and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (5.3 vs. 2.2%; p < 0.01). They also had higher total scores of ISI, GAD-2, PHQ-2, and SCL-90-R obsessive-compulsive symptoms (p ≤ 0.01). Among medical health workers, having organic disease was an independent factor for insomnia, anxiety, depression, somatization, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (p < 0.05 or 0.01). Living in rural areas, being female, and being at risk of contact with COVID-19 patients were the most common risk factors for insomnia, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and depression (p < 0.01 or 0.05). Among nonmedical health workers, having organic disease was a risk factor for insomnia, depression, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (p < 0.01 or 0.05).

Conclusions: During the COVID-19 outbreak, medical health workers had psychosocial problems and risk factors for developing them. They were in need of attention and recovery programs.

Keywords: COVID-19; Corona virus; Health workers; Mental health; Psychosocial problems.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interests.

Comment in

References

    1. World Health Organization [Internet] Geneva: WHO characterizes COVID-19 as a pandemic. [cited 2020 March 11]. Available from: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-a....
    1. Li Q, Guan X, Wu P, Wang X, Zhou L, Tong Y, et al. Early Transmission Dynamics in Wuhan, China, of Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia. N Engl J Med. 2020 Mar;382((13)):1199–207. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lancet. COVID-19 too little, too late? Lancet. 2020 Mar;395((10226)):755. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Day M. Covid-19: surge in cases in Italy and South Korea makes pandemic look more likely. BMJ. 2020 Feb;368:m751. - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization [Internet] Geneva: WHO statement on cases of COVID-19 surpassing 100 000. [cited 2020 March 7]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/07-03-2020-who-statement-on-cases-o....

Publication types

MeSH terms