Abstract
The world is facing the worst health crisis in modern history. In addition to general concerns about the effects of COVID-19 on health, hospital personnel are developing numerous mental health conditions. This cross-sectional survey study evaluated the prevalence and severity of anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic using the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) in 2136 hospital employees. For the employees who presented scores ranging from 1–20 (n = 1090, 51%), the CAS mean score was 4.22 (SD = 3.95). The mean score was higher in women than men. By work category, non-clinical hospital personnel presented the highest CAS scores.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the study participants for their cooperation and OnLine English for editing the manuscript and reviewing it for language, structure, and expression of ideas suitable for publication in the biomedical literature. The authors wish to acknowledge all physicians, nurses, and other health personnel fighting against COVID-19.
Informed consent
Participants were fully informed about the study; written consent was obtained from each research participant before the study. Their privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity were ensured. All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants to be included in the study. The National Ethics Committee and the National Scientific Research Committee authorized the study protocol with the registration number: R-2020-785-096.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Authors’ contributions
BGR, JMChC, FJBC, and AGO conceived the presented idea. All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation was performed by BGR, GDCG, GCG, and GACC. ECP, IEE, IVBP, and GSG assisted with the recruitment process and distribution of the surveys. Data management was performed by KJPB, BGGR, DRN, VASL, JMCC, and JHSF. Data analysis was performed by FJBC, JCIP, GCG, GACC, CFO, and AGO. All authors contributed to the writing and review of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.