More than 20 percent of health care workers experienced anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder during the pandemic, according to a new study published on March 10 in PLOS One.
Nathaniel Scherer, co-lead author of the study, and research assistant at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said Becker the evidence supports the need for mental health intervention.
“There is evidence that health care professionals are showing elevated symptoms of common mental health problems and need support from governments, employers and service providers. While there is an urgent need for mental health intervention and support, we also need to monitor and understand the characteristics of symptoms, so that the pressures placed on health care professionals can be reduced, “he wrote in an email on March 11th.
The systematic review and meta-analysis examined 65 studies conducted between December 2019 and August 2020 on the incidence of mental disorders among health care workers. Data included 97,333 health care workers in 21 countries. Most of the studies (46) were conducted in East Asia. Seven occurred in the Middle East, five in Europe, three in South Asia, one in South America, two in North America and one in West Africa.
Overall, researchers found that 21.7 percent of health care workers had depression, while 22.1 percent had anxiety. More than 21 percent were experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. Levels of depression (34.6 percent) and anxiety (28.9 percent) were highest in Middle East studies. They were lowest across North American studies (18.7 percent and 14.8 percent, respectively).
But Mr. Scherer told CNN the results should be carefully interpreted by the number of studies examined from each area.
To read the full review, click here.
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