Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: Analysis of the HERO Registry

Abstract

Little is known about the mental health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in healthcare workers (HCWs). Past literature has shown that chronic strain caused by pandemics can adversely impact a variety of mental health outcomes in HCWs. There is growing recognition of the risk of stress and loss of resilience to HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic, although the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic remains poorly understood. We wanted to understand the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and the risk of PTDS symptoms in HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. We surveyed 2038 health care workers enrolled in the Healthcare Worker Exposure Response & Outcomes (HERO) study, which is a large standardized national registry of health care workers. Participants answered questions about demographics, COVID-19 exposure, job burnout, and PTSD symptoms. We characterize the burden of PTSD symptoms among HCWs, and determined the association between high PTSD symptoms and race, gender, professional role, work setting, and geographic region using multivariable regression. In a fully adjusted model, we found that older HCWs were less likely to report high PTSD symptoms compared with younger HCWs. Additionally, we found that physicians were less likely to report high PTSD symptoms compared with nurses. These data add to the growing literature on increased risks of mental health challenges to healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.