AUTHOR=Hayat Khezar , Arshed Muhammad , Fiaz Iqra , Afreen Urooj , Khan Faiz Ullah , Khan Tahir Abbas , Kadirhaz Muhtar , Shukar Sundus , Saeed Azwa , Gill Muhammad Rouf , Fang Yu 

TITLE=Impact of COVID-19 on the Mental Health of Healthcare Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study From Pakistan

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.603602

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2021.603602

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly increased the rate of mortality and morbidity worldwide due to its rapid transmission rate. The mental health status of individuals could have a negative impact attributed to this global situation. Therefore, this study was intended to explore the symptoms of depression and anxiety among healthcare workers (HCWs) of Pakistan during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> A cross-sectional survey was undertaken by administering a web-based questionnaire between May and June 2020. Two tools, including the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), were employed to measure anxiety and depression symptoms among HCWs. The data analyses were carried out using descriptive statistics, Man Whitney, and Kruskal Wallis tests.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Of 1094 HCWs who participated in this online survey, 742 (67.8%) were physicians, followed by nurses (<italic>n</italic> = 277, 25.3%) and pharmacists (<italic>n</italic> = 75, 6.9%). The survey respondents had a median depression and anxiety score of 5.00 (7.00–3.00) and 8.00 (11.00–5.00), respectively. A considerable number of HCWs (82.2%) utilized online psychological resources to deal with their psychological distress. Female HCWs, nurses, frontline HCWs, and HCWs aged 30–49 years were more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05).</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> During the recent ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, there is a mild level of symptoms of depression and anxiety among HCWs. Our findings call for urgent psychological interventions for vulnerable groups of Pakistani HCWs.</p>