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
Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Mar 10;16(3):e0246454.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246454. eCollection 2021.

Prevalence of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Yufei Li  1 , Nathaniel Scherer  1 , Lambert Felix  1 , Hannah Kuper  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Prevalence of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Yufei Li et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has placed health care workers under psychological stress. Previous reviews show a high prevalence of mental disorders among health care workers, but these need updating and inclusion of studies written in Chinese. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to provide updated prevalence estimates for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, benefitting from the inclusion of studies published in Chinese.

Methods: Systematic search of EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Global Health, Web of Science, CINAHL, Google Scholar and the Chinese databases SinoMed, WanfangMed, CNKI and CQVIP, for studies conducted between December 2019 and August 2020 on the prevalence of depression, anxiety and PTSD in health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies published in both English and Chinese were included.

Results: Data on the prevalence of moderate depression, anxiety and PTSD was pooled across 65 studies involving 97,333 health care workers across 21 countries. The pooled prevalence of depression was 21.7% (95% CI, 18.3%-25.2%), of anxiety 22.1% (95% CI, 18.2%-26.3%), and of PTSD 21.5% (95% CI, 10.5%-34.9%). Prevalence estimates are also provided for a mild classification of each disorder. Pooled prevalence estimates of depression and anxiety were highest in studies conducted in the Middle-East (34.6%; 28.9%). Subgroup and meta-regression analyses were conducted across covariates, including sampling method and outcome measure.

Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis has identified a high prevalence of moderate depression, anxiety and PTSD among health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Appropriate support is urgently needed. The response would benefit from additional research on which interventions are effective at mitigating these risks.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. PRISMA flowchart.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Meta-analysis and pooled estimate of moderate depression in health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Meta-analysis and pooled estimate of moderate anxiety in health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Meta-analysis and pooled estimate of moderate PTSD in health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19–11 March 2020. https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-re...
    1. COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
    1. Petersen E, Koopmans M, Go U, Hamer DH, Petrosillo N, Castelli F, et al.. Comparing SARS-CoV-2 with SARS-CoV and influenza pandemics. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2020;20(9):e238–e44. 10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30484-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tanne JH, Hayasaki E, Zastrow M, Pulla P, Smith P, Rada AG. Covid-19: how doctors and healthcare systems are tackling coronavirus worldwide. BMJ. 2020;368:m1090. 10.1136/bmj.m1090 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chen W, Huang Y. To Protect Health Care Workers Better, To Save More Lives With COVID-19. Anesthesia & Analgesia. 2020;131(1). 10.1213/ANE.0000000000004834 - DOI - PMC - PubMed