Effects of Long-Term Noise Exposure on Mental Health and Sleep Quality of Emergency Medical Staff and Coping Strategies.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore the effects of long-term noise exposure on the mental health and sleep quality of medical staff in an emergency department and noise-coping strategies.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, 126 emergency medical staff (49 doctors and 77 nurses) and 100 medical staff (40 doctors and 60 nurses) from the general inpatient department of two hospitals in China were selected as subjects. The research period was from January to October 2024. The daytime and night-time noise levels in the emergency department and general inpatient department were collected. The Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) was used to assess the mental health status. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and polysomnography were used to evaluate sleep quality. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation amongst variables.

RESULTS

The daytime and night-time noise-exposure levels in the emergency department were significantly higher than those in the general inpatient department (P < 0.05). The scores for somatisation, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, depression, anxiety, hostility, terror, psychoticism, PSQI and SCL-90 in the emergency department were higher than those in the general inpatient department (P < 0.05). The sleep duration and sleep efficiency of medical staff in the emergency department were significantly lower than those in the general inpatient department. The sleep latency time and awakening time were significantly higher than those in the general inpatient department (P < 0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that daytime noise-exposure level was positively correlated with the SCL-90 total score (r = 0.326, P < 0.001) and total PSQI score (r = 0.298, P = 0.021). Meanwhile, the night-time noise-exposure level was positively correlated with the SCL-90 total score (r = 0.435, P < 0.001), PSQI total score (r = 0.515, P < 0.001), sleep latency time (r = 0.422, P<0.001) and awakening time of emergency medical staff (r = 0.261, P < 0.001). Night-time noise exposure had negative correlations with sleep duration (r = -0.503, P < 0.001) and sleep efficiency (r = -0.293, P < 0.001).