scholarly journals The Prevalence of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Among Health Care Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Umbrella Review and Meta-Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Sahebi ◽  
Atefeh Yousefi ◽  
Kamel Abdi ◽  
Yousef Jamshidbeigi ◽  
Siamak Moayedi ◽  
...  

Introduction: Frontline health care workers (HCWs) have had an increased risk of developing health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to physical illness, they have experienced mental health challenges, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of PTSD among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic via an umbrella review and meta-analysis.Methods: This study was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline to perform a systematic literature search using various medical databases (Web of science, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, ProQuest, Science Direct, Embase, and Google scholar). The search included all articles published through the first of January 2020 the end of March 2021. The systematic review and meta-analysis studies that reported the prevalence of PTSD among health care workers were included in the study, and studies that reported the prevalence of PTSD in normal people or other epidemics were excluded. The random effects model was used to perform a meta-analysis, and the I2 index was used to evaluate heterogeneity among studies. Publication bias was assessed using the Egger test. Data was analyzed using STATA (version 14) software.Results: The initial literature search yielded 145 studies. After excluding duplicates and assessing the quality of the studies, 7 studies were selected for meta-analysis. The results showed that the overall prevalence of PTSD among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic was 13.52% (95% CI: 9.06–17.98, I2 = 65.5%, p = 0.008).Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of PTSD among frontline HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to invest in efforts to screen HCWs for mental health disorders such as PTSD and provide them with mental health support.

2021 ◽  
pp. 070674372110252
Author(s):  
Marie-Michèle Dufour ◽  
Nicolas Bergeron ◽  
Axelle Rabasa ◽  
Stéphane Guay ◽  
Steve Geoffrion

Objectives: Health-care workers (HCW) exposed to COVID-19 are at risk of experiencing psychological distress. Although several cross-sectional studies have been carried out, a longitudinal perspective is needed to better understand the evolution of psychological distress indicators within this population. The objectives of this study were to assess the evolution of psychological distress and to identify psychological distress trajectories of Canadian HCW during and after the first wave of COVID-19. Method: This prospective cohort study was conducted from May 8 to September 4, 2020, and includes a volunteer sample of 373 HCW. Symptoms of post-traumatic disorder, anxiety, and depression were assessed using the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition (PCL-5), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Descriptive statistics were used to illustrate the evolution of psychological distress indicators, whereas latent class analysis was carried out to identify trajectories. Results: During and after the first wave of COVID-19, the rates of clinical mental health symptoms among our sample varied between 6.2% and 22.2% for post-traumatic stress, 10.1% and 29.9% for depression, and 7.3% and 26.9% for anxiety. Finally, 4 trajectories were identified: recovered (18.77%), resilient (65.95%), subchronic (7.24%), and delayed (8.04%). Conclusion: The longitudinal nature of our study and the scarcity of our data are unique among existing studies on psychological distress of HCW in COVID-19 context and allow us to contextualize prior transversal data on the topic. Although our data illustrated an optimistic picture in showing that the majority of HCW follow a resilience trajectory, it is still important to focus our attention on those who present psychological distress. Implementing preventive mental health interventions in our health-care institutions that may prevent chronic distress is imperative. Further studies need to be done to identify predictors that may help to characterize these trajectories.


2021 ◽  
pp. 152483802110484
Author(s):  
Aino Suomi ◽  
Annalese Bolton ◽  
Dave Pasalich

Background Birth parents of children in the statutory child protection system have disproportionally high rates of trauma exposure and mental health problems, however, little is known about the extent to which this population display symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Complex PTSD. This study provides a systematic review and meta-analysis of the PTSD rates in parent samples involved in the child protection services. Method Articles were identified by searching PSYCINFO, Medline, CINAHL, and PILOTS. The search included terminology pertaining to parents, trauma, and child protective services and we included all peer-reviewed articles that reported a valid measure of PTSD and child protection service involvement. Results Fifteen studies were included in the review with a combined prevalence estimate for PTSD based on 11 studies ( n = 4871) was 26.0% (95% CI 20.0–32.0%) for mothers, and estimate based on three studies ( n = 2606) was 13.0% (95% CI 7.0%–18.0%) for fathers and 23.0% (95% CI 17.0–29.0) for all parents based on 7848 responses. Four studies that did not report prevalence rates, reported sample mean scores for PTSD that were consistently higher than in general population. Factors associated with parents’ PTSD symptoms included mental health co-morbidities, victimization of physical and sexual violence, and perpetration of child abuse. Conclusion There are high rates of PTSD in parents involved in the protective system, thus more targeted efforts are needed to identify and adequately address trauma symptoms of parents as part of child protection interventions.


2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miles McFall ◽  
Andrew J. Saxon ◽  
Surai Thaneemit-Chen ◽  
Mark W. Smith ◽  
Anne M. Joseph ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-45
Author(s):  
Giacomo Gualtieri ◽  
Fabio Ferretti ◽  
Alessandra Masti ◽  
Andrea Pozza ◽  
Anna Coluccia

Background: Parental incarceration can produce serious effects on the offspring’s mental health. The presence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in prisoners’ offspring is understudied and the few literature data showed heterogeneous evidence, with some studies suggesting that about 25% of prisoners’ offspring have PTSD and other reporting much lower prevalence rates around 2-3%. There is no systematic review and meta-analysis about PTSD in prisoners’ offspring. Objectives: The present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to provide a first quantitative synthesis of the prevalence of the PTSD diagnosis in prisoners’ offspring. Moderator variables of the effect sizes were assessed, including offspring’s and parents’ gender, offspring’s generational cohort (children/adolescents versus adults), reasons for parental incarceration (political/war versus crime), and country type (Western versus Non-Western countries). Methods: A systematic review and a meta-analysis were conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. Studies were included if they assessed the presence of a PTSD diagnosis in child, adolescent or adult offspring of prisoners through a diagnostic classification system, a clinician-administered interview or a self-report questionnaire, if they reported data necessary to calculate the effect sizes or the authors were available to provide them. Studies might have been based upon any design except review, single-case, case series, and case reports. Outcomes might have been measured at any time after parental incarceration. Parental imprisonment was defined as any kind of custodial confinement of a parent by the criminal justice system, including being held as a prisoner of war or for political reasons. Independent reviewers searched published/unpublished studies through electronic databases and additional sources and extracted the data. A random-effect meta-analysis was carried out by calculating the effect sizes as event rates. Heterogeneity was examined by the I2 and the Q statistics. Moderators were assessed through meta-regressions. Results: Six studies (2512 participants) were included. Fifteen percent of prisoners’ offspring had PTSD, as shown by a significant mean effect size of 0.14 without evidence of publication bias (95% CI: 0.081 – 0.249, p< 0.001). There were no significant differences on the mean effect sizes between the studies on adults and those on children/adolescents [Q(1) = 0.00, p = .999], between the studies on parents incarcerated for political/war reasons and those for crime [Q(1) = 0.00, p = .979], and between the studies conducted in Western and non-Western countries [Q(1) = 0.854, p = .355]. While offspring’s gender was not related to the effect sizes [β = -0.01, 95% CI: -0.02 – 0.02, p = .452], parents’ gender was significantly and positively associated with the effect sizes suggesting that in studies with higher percentages of incarcerated mothers, the prevalence of offspring’s PTSD was higher [β = 0.01, 95% CI: 0.0 – 0.01, p = .019]. Conclusion: PTSD is a serious mental health condition among prisoners’ offspring, particularly when mothers are incarcerated. The present findings point out the importance of thorough assessment and timely intervention/prevention strategies implemented by professionals of mental health settings and detention systems. The cross-sectional design of the studies does not allow causal conclusions to be drawn about the effect of parental incarceration as a risk factor for PTSD. Other variables related to parental incarceration may explain these findings. This limitation points out the importance of further longitudinal research.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Villarreal-Zegarra ◽  
Anthony Copez-Lonzoy ◽  
Ana Lucia Vilela-Estrada: ◽  
Jeff Huarcaya-Victoria

Abstract Background: This study has two aims. First, determine the fit of the fear model to COVID-19, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress in the general population and health-care workers. Second, determine which model best explains the relationship between depression and the triad of fear, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress in both groups. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted using self-reported questionnaires for anxiety, fear of COVID-19, depression, and post-traumatic stress. Information was collected from adults living in Lima, the capital and the most populous city in Peru. The explanatory models were evaluated using a structural regression model.Results: A high overall prevalence of depressive symptoms (16%), anxiety (11.7%), and post-traumatic stress (14.9%) were identified. A higher prevalence of depressive, anxious, or stress symptoms was identified in the general population (28.6%) compared to health-care workers (17.9%). The triad model of fear of COVID-19, anxiety, and stress presented adequate goodness-of-fit indices for both groups. A model was identified that manages to explain depressive symptoms in more than 70% of the general population and health-care workers, based on the variables of the triad (CFI=0.94; TLI=0.94; RMSEA=0.06; SRMR=0.06). Limitations: The prevalence estimates relied on self-reported information. Other variables of interest, such as intolerance to uncertainty or income level, could not be evaluated. Conclusions: Our study proposes and tests one model that explains more than 70% of depressive symptoms. This explanatory model can be used in health contexts and populations to determine how emotional factors can affect depressive symptoms. Keywords: Depression, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, fear of COVID-19, Peru


Author(s):  
Y. Nesterko ◽  
D. Jäckle ◽  
M. Friedrich ◽  
L. Holzapfel ◽  
H. Glaesmer

Abstract Aims Despite recent worldwide migratory movements, there are only a few studies available that report robust epidemiological data on the mental health in recent refugee populations. In the present study, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and somatisation were assessed using an epidemiological approach in refugees who have recently arrived in Germany from different countries. Methods The study was conducted in a reception facility for asylum-seekers in Leipzig, Germany. A total of 1316 adult individuals arrived at the facility during the survey period (May 2017–June 2018), 569 of whom took part in the study (N = 67 pilot study and N = 502 study sample; response rate 43.2%). The questionnaire (11 different languages) included sociodemographic and flight-related questions as well as standardised instruments for assessing PTSD (PCL-5), depression (PHQ-9) and somatisation (SSS-8). Unweighted and weighted prevalence rates of PTSD, depression and somatisation were presented stratified by sex and age groups. Results According to established cut-off scores, 49.7% of the respondents screened positive for at least one of the mental disorders investigated, with 31% suffering from somatisation, 21.7% from depression and 34.9% from PTSD; prevalence rates of major depression, other depressive syndromes and PTSD were calculated according to the DSM-5, which indicated rates of 10.3, 17.6 and 28.2%, respectively. Conclusions The findings underline the dramatic mental health burden present among refugees and provide important information for health care planning. They also provide important information for health care systems and political authorities in receiving countries and strongly indicate the necessity of establishing early psychosocial support for refugees suffering from psychological distress.


2021 ◽  
pp. 175114372098318
Author(s):  
Natasha Dykes ◽  
Oliver Johnson ◽  
Peter Bamford

Background COVID-19 has presented a unique set of psychological stressors for healthcare professionals. There is currently a dearth of literature establishing the impact amongst intensive care workers, who may be at the greatest risk. This study aimed to establish the prevalence of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder amongst a cohort of intensive care workers within the United Kingdom. Methods A questionnaire was designed to incorporate validated screening tools for depression (Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ-9) anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale, GAD-7), and post-traumatic stress disorder (Impact of Event Scale–Revised, IES-R). All intensive care workers at the Countess of Chester Hospital (UK) were eligible. Data was collected between 17th June and 8th July 2020. Results The majority of the 131 respondents were nurses (52.7% [69/131]) or doctors (32.8% [43/141]). Almost one-third (29.8% [39/131]) reported a significant or extreme impact of COVID-19 on their mental health. In total, 16%(21/131) had symptoms of moderate depression, 11.5%(15/131) moderately severe depression and 6.1%(8/131) severe depression. Females had significantly higher mean PHQ-9 scores than males (8.8 and 5.7 respectively, p = 0.009). Furthermore, 18.3% (24/131) had moderate anxiety with 14.5% (19/131) having severe anxiety. Mean GAD-7 scores were higher amongst females than males (8.7 and 6.3 respectively, p = 0.028). Additionally, 28.2% (37/131) reported symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of PTSD (IES-R ≥ 33). Despite these findings, only 3.1% (4/131) of staff accessed trust mental health support. Conclusion The impact of COVID-19 on intensive care workers is significant and warrants specific focus and attention in order to preserve this key sector of the workforce.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Portoghese ◽  
Maura Galletta ◽  
Federico Meloni ◽  
Ilenia Piras ◽  
Gabriele Finco ◽  
...  

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is asking health care workers (HCWs) to meet extraordinary challenges. In turn, HCWs were experiencing tremendous psycho-social crisis as they have had to deal with unexpected emotional requirements (ERs) arising from caring for suffering and dying patients on a daily basis. In that context, recent studies have highlighted how HCWs working during the COVID-19 outbreak manifested extreme emotional and behavioral reactions that may have impacted their mental health, increasing the risk for developing post-traumatic stress symptoms.Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate post-traumatic stress symptoms, such as intrusion symptoms, as a potential mediator of the link between ERs and crying at work, and whether rumination moderates the relationship between ERs and intrusion-based PTS symptoms among HCWs who have had to deal with patients dying from COVID-19.Methods: An online cross-sectional study design was performed. A total of 543 Italian HCWs (physicians and nurses) participated in the study. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. We used the SPSS version of bootstrap-based PROCESS macro for testing the moderated mediation model.Results: ERs had an indirect effect on crying at work through the mediating role of intrusion symptoms. Results from the moderated mediation model showed that rumination moderated the indirect effect of ERs on crying at work via intrusion symptoms, and this effect was significant only for high rumination. Furthermore, when we tested for an alternative model where rumination moderates the direct effect of ERs on crying at work, this moderation was not significant.Conclusions: As the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, there is an urgent need for decision-makers to rapidly implement interventions aimed at offering timely psychological support to HCWs, especially in those contexts where the risk of emotional labor associated to patients dying from COVID-19 is higher.


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