Depressive State in the Emergency Department During COVID-19: A National Cross-Sectional Survey in China

• Main Authors: Shuang Liu, Wei Han, Chenyu Shen, Changju Zhu, Qiaofang Wang, Xianquan Liang, Xiangxi He, Qin Xie, Jie Wei, Miao Wu, Xiaodong Zhao, Hongsheng Liu, Danping Liu, Xiaowang Guo, Shinan Nie, Liping Cao, Linxin Lu, Yaqin Fang, Zhongqiu Lu, Yixu Wu, Min Zhao, Jun Han, Xinchao Zhang, Jie Chang, Shuogui Xu, Wenjie Ma, Junli Si, Suxia Qi, Peng Peng, Yage Chai, Yu Cao, Yaowen Jiang, Wen Yin, Yanjun Wang, Hong Zhan, Yingxiong Huang, Ying Deng, Juanjuan Song, Lishan Yang, Jiali Wu, Banghan Ding, Danwen Zheng, Chuanyun Qian, Rui Huang, Jiyan Lin, Zhihong Xu, Guoxiu Zhang, Yingying Hu, Qingli Dou, Xiaoming Zhang, Yingping Tian, Dongqi Yao, Joseph Harold Walline, Huadong Zhu, Jun Xu, Yi Li, Xuezhong Yu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-06-01
• Series: Frontiers in Psychiatry
• Subjects: COVID-19; depression; emergency medicine; PHQ-9; China
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.566990/full
• ISSN: 1664-0640

Chinese emergency department (ED) staff encountered significant mental stress while fighting the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We sought to investigate the prevalence and associated factors for depressive symptoms among ED staff (including physicians, nurses, allied health, and auxiliary ED staff). A cross-sectional national survey of ED staff who were on duty and participated in combating the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted March 1–15, 2020. A total of 6,588 emergency medical personnel from 1,060 hospitals responded to this survey. A majority of respondents scored above 10 points on the PHQ-9 standardized test, which is associated with depressive symptoms. Those aged 31–45, those working in the COVID-19 isolation unit, and those with relatives ≤ 16 or ≥70 years old at home all had statistically significant associations with scoring >10 points. Depressive symptoms among Chinese emergency medical staff were likely quite common during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and reinforce the importance of targeted ED staff support during future outbreaks.