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. 2021 Jul 8:12:626547.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.626547. eCollection 2021.

The Psychological Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Health Care Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Ping Sun  1 , Manli Wang  2 , Tingting Song  2 , Yan Wu  2 , Jinglu Luo  2 , Lili Chen  2   3 , Lei Yan  1   2
Affiliations

The Psychological Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Health Care Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Ping Sun et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Objective: The COVID-19 epidemic has generated great stress throughout healthcare workers (HCWs). The situation of HCWs should be fully and timely understood. The aim of this meta-analysis is to determine the psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic on health care workers. Method: We searched the original literatures published from 1 Nov 2019 to 20 Sep 2020 in electronic databases of PUBMED, EMBASE and WEB OF SCIENCE. Forty-seven studies were included in the meta-analysis with a combined total of 81,277 participants. Results: The pooled prevalence of anxiety is 37% (95% CI 0.31-0.42, I2 = 99.9%) from 44 studies. Depression is estimated in 39 studies, and the pooled prevalence of depression is 36% (95% CI 0.31-0.41, I2 = 99.6%). There are 10 studies reported the prevalence of insomnia, and the overall prevalence of insomnia is 32% (95% CI 0.23-0.42, I2 = 99.5%). The subgroup analysis showed a higher incidence of anxiety and depression among women and the frontline HCWs compared to men and non-frontline HCWs respectively. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused heavy psychological impact among healthcare professionals especially women and frontline workers. Timely psychological counseling and intervention ought to be implemented for HCWs in order to alleviate their anxiety and improve their general mental health.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; depression; health care workers; insomnia; mental health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of literature screening.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The pooled prevalence of anxiety. ES, effect size; CI, confidence interval; Weight, weight of each included study (degree of impact on pooled results), The larger the weight is, the greater the influence on the combination result is.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The pooled prevalence of depression. ES, effect size; CI, confidence interval; Weight, weight of each included study (degree of impact on pooled results), The larger the weight is, the greater the influence on the combination result is.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The pooled prevalence of insomnia. ES, effect size; CI, confidence interval; Weight, weight of each included study (degree of impact on pooled results), The larger the weight is, the greater the influence on the combination result is.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The forest map based on the prevalence of anxiety and depression among healthcare workers of different genders. (A): A forest map based on the incidence of anxiety among health care workers of different genders; (B): A forest map based on the incidence of depression among health care workers of different genders. ES, effect size; CI, confidence interval; Weight: weight of each included study (degree of impact on pooled results), The larger the weight is, the greater the influence on the combination result is.
Figure 6
Figure 6
A forest map based on the incidence of various levels of anxiety and depression among medical personnel. (A): A forest map based on the incidence of various levels of anxiety among medical personnel; (B): A forest map based on the incidence of various levels of depression among medical personnel. ES, effect size; CI, confidence interval; Weight: weight of each included study (degree of impact on pooled results), The larger the weight is, the greater the influence on the combination result is.
Figure 7
Figure 7
A forest map based on the prevalence of anxiety and depression between front-line and non-frontline medical staffs. (A): A forest map based on the incidence of anxiety between front-line and non-frontline medical personnel; (B): A forest map based on the incidence of depression between front-line and non-frontline healthcare workers. ES, effect size; CI, confidence interval; Weight: weight of each included study (degree of impact on pooled results), The larger the weight is, the greater the influence on the combination result is.
Figure 8
Figure 8
A forest map based on the prevalence of anxiety and depression between doctors and nurses. (A): A forest map based on the incidence of anxiety between doctors and nurses; (B): A forest map based on the incidence of depression between doctors and nurses. ES, effect size; CI, confidence interval; Weight, weight of each included study (degree of impact on pooled results), The larger the weight is, the greater the influence on the combination result is.
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