Abstract

Aim and objectives: To estimate the mental health status of health care professionals during COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: During this COVID-19 pandemic, health professionals face mental health challenges including stress, anxiety and depression, and insomnia. The mental health issues could be due to COVID- 19 cases in the community and in hospitals.

Methods: A meta-analysis was done on the mental health status of health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic globally. The English and Chinese database were searched for the purpose of this review and the data bases included PubMed, PubMed Central, Web of Science from the Cochrane Library, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. The review included 26 studies published from February 18 to April 28, 2020. Inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria were set before screening the data base.

Result: The prevalence of stress among health professionals was 31.3%, depression 25.2%, anxiety 28.5% and insomnia was 45.5% in Wuhan, Hubei province of China. However, the prevalence of stress was 53.1%, depression was 34.0% anxiety 33.0% and insomnia was 14.1% in other parts of China. The prevalence of insomnia among health workers was higher in Hubei province compared to other provinces, 45.5% and 33.5% respectively Health professionals with psychological distress or severe mental health issues were reported higher in Hubei province (24.5%) compared with other provinces in China (14.1%). This meta-analysis shows that there is high incidence of mental health issues in the areas affected by COVID-19 compared to the other provinces.

Conclusion: Currently there is very little attention provided to mental health issues in the general population and to the health professionals in the COVID-19 affected areas. There is an urgent need to implement mental health issues interventions in countries affected by COVID-19.

Keywords: Coronavirus 2019; COVID-19; Mental health; Stress; Health professionals.

Keywords: Gulf war; Health care professionals; Reservists; Pre deployment; Deployment