Mental Health of Front-Line Chinese Medical Staff During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected over 100 countries thus far. The increasing number of patients might lead to enormous changes in psychological status of medical staff. Aims: The aim of this study was to understand the psychological status of medical staff during the COVID-19 outbreak. Method: Medical staff working in hospitals in Wuhan and the Yangtze River Delta were invited to complete an online questionnaire, which was composed of basic demographic data, the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) for sleep disturbances, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) for anxiety, and the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) for depressive symptoms. Results: Among the 1225 invited medical staff, 686 participants (64 males, 9.33% and 622 females, 90.67%; average age 33.13±7.82 years) responded to the survey (response rate was 56.00%). 482 (67.35%) respondents reported sleep disturbances, 224 (32.65%) reported anxiety and 204 (29.74%) reported depressive symptoms. Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that occupation (doctor), department (respiratory, ICU), workplace (areas in Wuhan), marital status (married), and medical history (anxiety, depression or sleep disorders) were significantly correlated with AIS, GAD-7 and SDS scores (P