Unit of Psychiatry, Department of Public Health and Medicinal Administration, & Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China.
Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China.
Transl Psychiatry. 2022 Sep 9;12(1):376. doi: 10.1038/s41398-022-02089-4.
The extent and severity of post-COVID-19 mental health symptoms among frontline clinicians are not clear. This study compared mental health symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms) and global quality of life (QOL) after the first COVID-19 outbreak between the COVID-19 treating and non-COVID-19 treating frontline clinicians.
This cross-sectional, comparative, convenient-sampling study was conducted between October 13 and 22, 2020, which was five months after the first COVID-19 outbreak in China was brought under control. The severity of depression, anxiety, insomnia symptoms, and global QOL of the clinicians were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 items (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 items (GAD-7), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire-brief version (WHOQOL-BREF), respectively. The propensity score matching (PSM) method was used to identify comparable COVID-19 treating and non-COVID-19 treating frontline clinicians. A generalized linear model (GLM) was used to assess the differences in PHQ-9, GAD-7, ISI, and QOL scores between the COVID-19 treating and non-COVID-19 treating frontline clinicians.
In total, 260 COVID-19 treating frontline clinicians and 260 matched non- COVID-19 treating frontline clinicians were included. Non-COVID-19 treating frontline clinicians experienced more frequent workplace violence (WPV) than the COVID-19 treating frontline clinicians (χ = 7.6, p = 0.006). COVID-19 treating frontline clinicians reported higher QOL compared to their non-COVID-19 treating frontline counterparts (b = 0.3, p = 0.042), after adjusting for WPV experience. COVID-19 treating and non- COVID-19 treating frontline clinicians reported similar PHQ-9, GAD-7, and ISI total scores (all p values > 0.05).
This study did not reveal more severe post-COVID-19 mental health symptoms in COVID-19 treating frontline clinicians compared to non-COVID-19 treating frontline clinicians. It is possible that the implementation of timely and appropriate mental health, social and financial supports could have prevented the worsening of mental health symptoms among the COVID-19 treating frontline clinicians after the first COVID-19 outbreak in China.
新冠肺炎疫情一线临床医生的心理健康症状的程度和严重程度尚不清楚。本研究比较了新冠肺炎治疗组和非新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生在首次新冠肺炎疫情爆发后心理健康症状（即抑郁、焦虑和失眠症状）和总体生活质量（QOL）。
这是一项横断面、对照、方便抽样研究，于 2020 年 10 月 13 日至 22 日进行，此时中国首例新冠肺炎疫情得到控制后五个月。使用患者健康问卷 9 项（PHQ-9）、广泛性焦虑症量表 7 项（GAD-7）、失眠严重程度指数（ISI）和世界卫生组织生活质量问卷简表（WHOQOL-BREF）分别评估临床医生的抑郁、焦虑、失眠症状严重程度和总体 QOL。采用倾向评分匹配（PSM）方法识别可比的新冠肺炎治疗组和非新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生。采用广义线性模型（GLM）评估新冠肺炎治疗组和非新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生 PHQ-9、GAD-7、ISI 和 QOL 评分的差异。
共纳入 260 名新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生和 260 名匹配的非新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生。非新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生比新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生经历更多的工作场所暴力（WPV）（χ²=7.6，p=0.006）。调整 WPV 经历后，与非新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生相比，新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生的生活质量更高（b=0.3，p=0.042）。新冠肺炎治疗组和非新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生的 PHQ-9、GAD-7 和 ISI 总分相似（所有 p 值均>0.05）。
本研究未发现新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生比非新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生有更严重的新冠肺炎后心理健康症状。及时和适当的心理健康、社会和经济支持的实施可能防止了中国首例新冠肺炎疫情后新冠肺炎治疗组一线临床医生心理健康症状的恶化。
