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Background: With the rise of reported mental disorders and behavioral issues after the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, psychiatrists and mental health care are urgently needed more than ever before. The psychiatric career carries a high emotional burden and stressful demands, which bring issues on psychiatrists' mental health and well-being into question. To investigate the prevalence and risk factors of depression, anxiety, and work burnout among psychiatrists in Beijing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted from January 6 to January 30, 2022, two years after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. Recruitment was performed using a convenience sample approach by sending online questionnaires to psychiatrists in Beijing. The symptoms of depression, anxiety, and burnout were evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS). The perceived stress and social support were measured by the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS) and Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), respectively. Results: The data of 564 psychiatrists (median [interquartile range] age, 37 [30–43] years old) of all 1532 in Beijing were included in the statistical analysis. The prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety and burnout were 33.2% (95% CI, 29.3-37.1%, PHQ-9 ≥ 5), 25.4% (95% CI, 21.8-29.0%, GAD-7 ≥ 5) and 40.6% (95% CI, 36.5-44.7%, MBI-GS ≥ 3 in each of the three subdimensions), respectively. The psychiatrist with a higher score on perceived stress was more likely to suffer from depressive symptoms (adjusted odds ratios [ORs]: 4.431 [95%CI, 2.907–6.752]); the anxiety symptoms (adjusted ORs: 8.280 [95%CI, 5.255–13.049]), and the burnout conditions (adjusted ORs: 9.102 [95%CI, 5.795–14.298]). Receiving high social support was an independent protective factor against symptoms of depression (adjusted ORs: 0.176 [95%CI, [0.080–0.386]), anxiety (adjusted ORs: 0.265 [95%CI, 0.111–0.630]) and burnout (adjusted ORs: 0.319 [95%CI, 0.148–0.686]). Conclusions: Our data suggest a considerable proportion of psychiatrists also suffer from depression, anxiety, and burnout. Perceived stress and social support influence depression, anxiety, and burnout. For public health, we must work together to reduce the pressure and increase social support to mitigate mental health risks in psychiatrists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a top ambient pollutant in urban area, fine particulate matter (PM 2·5) has been associated with the occurrence and deterioration of many medical conditions, while few studies have observed the association with psychiatric conditions. We aimed to investigate the association between short-term PM 2·5 exposure and psychiatric emergency events, and further explored the variation by age, sex, and seasonal patterns, which have been suggested to be associated with both psychiatric risk and pollutant toxicity. We used time-series analysis to investigate the association between short-time exposure (0–3 days) of PM 2·5 and emergency ambulance dispatches for psychiatric emergencies in Beijing, one of the most polluted cities in China during the study period. We did stratified analyses to examine the effects of age, sex, and seasonal pattern. Between 2008 and 2014, 158 634 psychiatric emergencies were recorded. Every 10 μg/m3 increase of the PM 2·5 concentration was associated with a 0·12% increase of the same-day overall psychiatric emergencies (95% CI 0·03–0·22; p=0·013) and a 0·12% increase of the suicide-related psychiatric emergencies at lag 2 (2 days after PM 2·5 exposure; 0·01–0·24; p=0·041). The associations remained when adjusted for sunlight duration. The age effect that children (<18 years) were more likely to be involved in suicide-related psychiatric emergencies after PM 2·5 exposure than adults (18–64 years) was significant (percentage change for children vs adults of 0·84% vs 0·07% at lag 3; p=0·013). No significant association was found among the older population (≥65 years; p=0·050–0·825). However, sex and seasonal effects were not statistically significant on the PM 2·5 and psychiatric emergencies association (p=0·052–0·999). We found a positive association between acute PM 2·5 exposure and increased psychiatric emergency presentations as indicated by emergency ambulance dispatches data. Children were more vulnerable to acute PM 2·5 elevation and developed psychiatric problems, especially suicide. We suggest that preventive attention for psychiatric emergencies should be paid after acute PM 2·5 elevation, particularly to children. National Natural Science Foundation of China (81801344), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (189826), Postdoctoral Fellowship of Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, and the Swedish Research Council (2015-06372). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a top ambient pollutant in urban area, fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) has been associated with the occurrence and deterioration of many medical conditions, while limited studies have observed the association with psychiatric conditions. This study aimed to investigate the association between short-term PM 2.5 exposure and psychiatric emergency events, and further explored the variation by age, sex and seasonal patterns, which have been suggested to be associated with both psychiatric risk and pollutant toxicity. We used time-series analysis to investigate the association between short-term exposure of PM 2.5 and emergency ambulance dispatches for psychiatric emergencies (EPE) (n = 158634) in Beijing, one of the top polluted cities in China during the study period between 2008 and 2014. Stratified analyses were conducted to examine the effects of age, sex and seasonal pattern. Every 10 μg/m3 increase of the PM 2.5 concentration was associated with a 0.12% increase of the same-day overall EPE (95% CI: 0.03–0.22%, p = 0.013) and a 0.12% increase of the suicide-related EPE at lag 2 (95%CI: 0.01–0.24%, p = 0.041). The associations remained when adjusted for sunlight duration. An age effect was observed where children (age <18) showed a higher risk of suicide-related EPE after PM 2.5 exposure compared to adults (18 ≤ age≤64). We did not observe evidence of effect modification by sex and season based on the results of stratified analysis. We found a positive association between acute PM 2.5 exposure and increased psychiatric emergency presentations indicated by emergency ambulance dispatches data. Children were more vulnerable and might develop psychiatric problems including those leading to suicide. Public awareness of the health risks of PM 2.5 is important to strengthen current efforts to reduce emissions. • Increased PM 2.5 is associated with increased number of ambulance dispatches for psychiatric emergencies. • Children showed a higher risk of suicide-related emergency associated with PM 2.5 concentration compared to adults. • Intervention strategy should be developed to reduce PM 2.5 level and exposure particularly in the younger population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]