Depression, anxiety and stress among healthcare workers in COVID-19 ICUs

Background & Objective: In most of the countries, the intensive care, airway management, and emergency resuscitation teams are largely constituted of the anesthetists, laying a great deal of physical, mental, and emotional pressure on them. In the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, the anesthetists have been on the fore-front. We compared the level of anxiety, depression, and stress among healthcare workers (HCWs) of COVID-19 ICU (CICUs) and non-COVID ICUs (NCICUs) in the tertiary care hospitals of south Punjab. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional study was conducted after ethical approval from the institutional review board, and completed from December 10, 2020 to January 20, 2021, through Google forms by generating online structured questionnaires i.e. DASS-21 and GHQ-12. Our target population was HCWs of Anesthesia & Critical care of all the public sector tertiary care hospitals of South Punjab. A total of 100 participants has filled the self-reported questionnaire. After sorting the data, we divided the participants into two groups; CICU and NCICU groups. Results: Out of 100 participants, 31% were in the COVID ICU group and 69% in the NCICU group. Females were 54% of the total. 55% of the participants were below 30 y of age, 77% were married, and 48% were post-graduates. Overall 50% of HCWs had a probable psychological illness, while 25% had anxiety, 21% depression and 12% had stress. Anxiety, depression, and stress were more in COVID ICU group as compared to the non-COVID group [(35% vs. 20%), (32% vs. 16%) and (31% vs. 3%) respectively]. Conclusion: Coronavirus pandemic has affected the mental health of healthcare workers. Those working in COVID ICUs are more prone to develop psychological distress than non-COVID ICU healthcare workers.