key: cord-0787311-nyiwj7mz
authors: Oladunjoye, Adeolu; Oladunjoye, Olubunmi
title: An Evolving Problem - Mental Health Symptoms Among Health Care Workers During COVID-19 Pandemic
date: 2020-06-23
journal: Asian J Psychiatr
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102257
sha: 21d0e480f7abf566c5bd3364daba658ddc524a09
doc_id: 787311
cord_uid: nyiwj7mz

nan

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Worldwide, the health care system has been stretched to its limit with the increasing number of people presenting with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19. While the world's attention is focused on the physical wellbeing of the general population, the mental wellbeing of the health care workers (HCW) has received less attention. Its rapid transmission has created a sense of urgency as the world continues to grapple with the reality of how highly infectious and fatal the disease can be. Unfortunately, mental health has taken a back seat for the most part compared to the attention the physical impact of the disease has received during the pandemic. (Xiang et al., 2020) A recent editorial by Tandon 2020 tried to address the question of the relevance of COVID-19 and Psychiatry with each other. (Tandon, 2020) One should not be surprised that the initial responses of colleagues about the relevance of COVID-19 and psychiatry were in the negative. However, their views changed in the affirmative after the author explained the mental health effects of COVID-19 on the general population and also among healthcare professionals. (Tandon, 2020) We reviewed the literature of the various mental health symptoms among HCW during the COVID-19 pandemic to better understand why mental health is relevant during COVID-19 especially among HCW. Our search included common databases like PUBMED and EMBASE using keywords from the thrust of our paper with search terms such as mental health, anxiety, depression, acute stress disorder, fear, stress, panic disorder, loneliness, COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, and SARS COV-2. Articles were reviewed from December 2019 to April 2020. Seven cross-sectional studies were available as of May 1 st addressing mental health problems among HCW during the COVID-19 pandemic. (see Table 1 ).

The study conducted in China by Lai et al found that nurses, women and frontline HCW were at higher risk of developing unfavorable mental health outcomes compared to their counterpart. (Lai Another mental health issue that can escalate among health care workers is anxiety. In Italy, one of the epicenters for COVID-19 in Europe, it was reported that some of the physicians developed insomnia and anxiety facing exceptional work and mental demand during this pandemic sometimes leading to unfavorable outcomes such as resigning from their jobs. (Fagiolini et al., 2020) The study by Ahmed et al among dental staff reported that their anxiety and fears increased due to a high risk of contracting the virus with exposure to droplets and aerosol. (Ahmed et al., 2020) Health workers also fear the worse when they are at high risk of spreading the disease to families and friends. (Tiong & Koh, 2013) Limitation of these cross-sectional studies is the loss of temporal association Also, preexisting psychiatric conditions in study participants prior to study participation were not evaluated. The 

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