Mental health symptoms in a cohort of hospital healthcare workers following the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is likely to lead to a significant increase in mental health disorders among healthcare workers (HCW).

Aims: We evaluated the rates of anxiety, depressive and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a population of HCW in the UK.

Method: An electronic survey was conducted between the 5 June 2020 and 31 July 2020 of all hospital HCW in the West Midlands, UK using clinically validated questionnaires: the 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire(PHQ-4) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). Univariate analyses and adjusted logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate the strengths in associations between 24 independent variables and anxiety, depressive or PTSD symptoms.

Results: There were 2638 eligible participants who completed the survey (female: 79.5%, median age: 42 years, interquartile range: 32-51). The rates of clinically significant symptoms of anxiety, depression and PTSD were 34.3%, 31.2% and 24.5%, respectively. In adjusted analysis a history of mental health conditions was associated with clinically significant symptoms of anxiety (odds ratio (OR) = 2.3, 95% CI 1.9-2.7, P < 0.001), depression (OR = 2.5, 95% CI 2.1-3.0, P < 0.001) and PTSD (OR = 2.1, 95% CI 1.7-2.5, P < 0.001). The availability of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), well-being support and lower exposure to moral dilemmas at work demonstrated significant negative associations with these symptoms (P ≤ 0.001).

Conclusions: We report higher rates of clinically significant mental health symptoms among hospital HCW following the initial COVID-19 pandemic peak in the UK. Those with a history of mental health conditions were most at risk. Adequate PPE availability, access to well-being support and reduced exposure to moral dilemmas may protect hospital HCW from mental health symptoms.