Influence of COVID-19 pandemic on psychological health of hospital staff

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Created On: 21/06/2022

An umbrella review of 44 meta-analysis was carried out to determine the incidence of depression, anxiety, and other mental health consequences among hospital staff during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.

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Key take away

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the occurrence of mental health issues among hospital staff is high, with symptoms of insomnia, depression, and anxiety.

Background

An umbrella review of 44 meta-analysis was carried out to determine the incidence of depression, anxiety, and other mental health consequences among hospital staff during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.

Method

Electronic databases such as PsycINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Medline/PubMed were searched for relevant studies. Out of 1298 studies, 44 studies were incorporated in the final analysis including the occurrence of sixteen mental health symptoms.

Using random-effects model, the meta-analysis was carried out. To evaluate heterogeneity, the I2 index was used. Examination of the publication bias was done using LFK index and Egger test. With the aid of STATA 17.0 software, the analysis of data was done. For assessing quality of systematic reviews, AMSTAR-2 was applied, while GRADE was utilized for rating the quality of evidence.

Result

Anxiety (prevalence: 29.9%) and depression (prevalence: 28.4%) symptomatology was reported by one-third of hospital workers, whereas 40% suffered from sleeping disorders. Poor quality of life, reduced well-being, fear-associated symptoms, and acute stress symptoms were highly prevalent among the hospital staff. The quality of evidences in these areas was noted to vary from low to very low.

Compared to doctors, nurses experienced higher anxiety, depression symptoms, and sleep problems. A higher prevalence of post-traumatic disorders and acute stress was reported in doctors. Compared to the male employees, female employees reported a greater burden of anxiety, sleep disorders, and depression. More than half of the first-line medical team were affected with insomnia and acute stress.

Conclusion

The effect of coronavirus outbreak on the mental health of hospital staff is quite high. Doctors are affected mostly by symptoms related to stress and post-traumatic stress disorder, while nurses are affected mostly by symptoms related to sleep problems, depression, and anxiety.