ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The outbreak of COVID-19 disarranged lives across mainland China. No study has examined changes in psychological symptoms of healthcare professionals in the intensive care unit (ICU) before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. The aim of this study was to estimate changes in psychological symptoms of ICU healthcare professionals before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, and to analyze factors related to psychological symptoms. METHODS: Two waves' administrations were implemented between December 13 and December 14, 2018, and between April 5 and April 7, 2020, respectively. The symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90) were used to evaluate psychological symptoms. Multiple logistical regression was used to reveal the risk of psychological symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 3902 and 3908 ICU healthcare professionals took part in the first and second surveys. The mean total score of the SCL-90 was 179.27 (70.02) at wave 1 and 147.75 (58.40) at wave 2, respectively. The proportion of psychological symptoms was 55.6 % (95%CI = 54.0-57.1) at wave 1. But rates of psychological symptoms decreased to 36.6 % (95%CI = 35.1-38.2) at wave 2. ICU healthcare professionals with western economic belt and 6-10 years of work were more likely to develop psychological symptoms, while ICU healthcare professionals with the later survey and doctoral degree were less likely to develop psychological symptoms. CONCLUSION: Although COVID-19 period benefited psychological symptoms of ICU healthcare professionals, psychological symptoms still had a related high prevalence. Regular screening and appropriate interventions should still be implemented to decrease the risk for psychological symptoms among Chinese ICU healthcare professionals.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Health Personnel , Intensive Care Units , Humans , COVID-19/epidemiology , Cross-Sectional Studies , Delivery of Health Care , Disease Outbreaks , East Asian People , Health Personnel/psychologyABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) are associated with various psychiatric comorbidities. This is a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in all subpopulations during the SARS and COVID-19 epidemics. A systematic literature search was conducted in major international (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, PsycINFO) and Chinese (China National Knowledge Internet [CNKI] and Wanfang) databases to identify studies reporting prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in all subpopulations during the SARS and COVID-19 epidemics. Data analyses were conducted using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Version 2.0 (CMA V2.0). Eighty-two studies involving 96,100 participants were included. The overall prevalence of depressive symptoms (depression hereinafter), anxiety symptoms (anxiety hereinafter), stress, distress, insomnia symptoms, post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and poor mental health during the COVID-19 epidemic were 23.9% (95% CI: 18.4%-30.3%), 23.4% (95% CI: 19.9%-27.3%), 14.2% (95% CI: 8.4%-22.9%), 16.0% (95% CI: 8.4%-28.5%), 26.5% (95% CI: 19.1%-35.5%), 24.9% (95% CI: 11.0%-46.8%), and 19.9% (95% CI: 11.7%-31.9%), respectively. Prevalence of poor mental health was higher in general populations than in health professionals (29.0% vs. 11.6%; Q=10.99, p=0.001). The prevalence of depression, anxiety, PTSS and poor mental health were similar between SARS and COVID-19 epidemics (all p values>0.05). Psychiatric comorbidities were common in different subpopulations during both the SARS and COVID-19 epidemics. Considering the negative impact of psychiatric comorbidities on health and wellbeing, timely screening and appropriate interventions for psychiatric comorbidities should be conducted for subpopulations affected by such serious epidemics.