Prevalence of Psychological Disorders among Health Workers During the COVID‑19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta‑Analysis

Repeated contact with patients with COVID‑19 and working in quarantine conditions has made health workers vulnerable to psychological distress during the COVID‑19 pandemic. The goal of the present systematic review and meta‑analysis was to examine the prevalence of the various psychological distresses among health workers during the COVID‑19 pandemic.

PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases were searched for access to papers examining psychological distress among healthcare workers during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS). Heterogeneity among the studies was examined using the Cochran’s Q test; because heterogeneity was significant, the random effects model was used to examine the prevalence of psychological distress.

Overall, 12 studies with a total sample size of 5265 were eligible and included in the analysis. Prevalence rates of depression, anxiety, and PTSD were 20% (95% CI: 14–27), 23% (95% CI: 18–27), and 8% (95% CI: 6–9), respectively. The highest prevalence rates of depression and anxiety were related to the SDS and the GAD‑7, respectively, and the lowest prevalence rates of the two aforementioned variables were related to the DASS‑21.

The high prevalence of psychological distress among healthcare workers during the COVID‑19 epidemic can have negative effects on their health and the quality of services provided. Therefore, training coping strategies for psychological distress in this pandemic seems necessary.