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 Sep 5;20(1):436.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-020-02838-z.

The mental health of neurological doctors and nurses in Hunan Province, China during the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak

Xianjun Ning  1   2 , Fang Yu  1 , Qin Huang  1 , Xi Li  1 , Yunfang Luo  1 , Qing Huang  1 , Changqing Chen  3
Affiliations

The mental health of neurological doctors and nurses in Hunan Province, China during the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak

Xianjun Ning et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Neurological symptoms are increasingly being noted among COVID-19 patients. Currently, there is little data on the mental health of neurological healthcare workers. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence and influencing factors on anxiety and depression in neurological healthcare workers in Hunan Province, China during the early stage of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

Methods: An online cross-sectional study was conducted among neurological doctors and nurses in early February 2020 in Hunan Province. Symptoms of anxiety and depression were assessed by the Chinese version of the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) (defined as a total score ≥ 50) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) (defined as a total score ≥ 53). The prevalences of probable anxiety and depression were compared between different groups, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to understand the independent influencing factors on anxiety and depression.

Results: The prevalence of probable anxiety and depression in neurological nurses (20.3 and 30.2%, respectively) was higher than that in doctors (12.6 and 20.2%, respectively). Female healthcare workers (18.4%) had a higher proportion of anxiety than males (10.8%). Probable anxiety and depression were more prevalent among nurses, younger workers (≤ 40 years), and medical staff with junior titles. Logistic regression analysis showed that a shortage of protective equipment was independently associated with probable anxiety (OR = 1.980, 95% CI: 1.241-3.160, P = 0.004), while young age was a risk factor for probable depression (OR = 2.293, 95% CI: 1.137-4.623, P = 0.020) among neurological healthcare workers.

Conclusions: Probable anxiety and depression were more prevalent among neurological nurses than doctors in Hunan Province. The shortage of protective equipment led to probable anxiety, and young age led to probable depression in healthcare workers in neurology departments, which merits attention during the battle against COVID-19.

Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19; Depression; Healthcare workers; Neurology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Epidemiology Working Group for NCIP Epidemic Response, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The epidemiological characteristics of an outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) in China. Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi. 2020;41(2):145–51. 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0254-6450.2020.02.003. - PubMed
    1. Mahase E. Coronavirus covid-19 has killed more people than SARS and MERS combined, despite lower case fatality rate. BMJ (Clin Res Ed) 2020;368:m641. - PubMed
    1. Peeri NC, Shrestha N, Rahman MS, Zaki R, Tan Z, Bibi S, Baghbanzadeh M, Aghamohammadi N, Zhang W, Haque U. The SARS, MERS and novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemics, the newest and biggest global health threats: what lessons have we learned? Int J Epidemiol. 2020;49(3):717–726. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang D, Hu B, Hu C, Zhu F, Liu X, Zhang J, Wang B, Xiang H, Cheng Z, Xiong Y, et al. Clinical characteristics of 138 hospitalized patients with 2019 novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia in Wuhan, China. Jama. 2020;323(11):1061–1069. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huang C, Wang Y, Li X, Ren L, Zhao J, Hu Y, Zhang L, Fan G, Xu J, Gu X, et al. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395(10223):497–506. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources