Traumatic stress in Egyptian doctors during COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 pandemic has heavily burdened healthcare systems throughout the world, causing substantial mental distress to medical professionals. We aim to investigate the associated traumatic stress in a sample of practicing physicians in Egypt during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional study assessed depression, and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among a sample of Egyptian physicians using an electronic survey. It included demographic and practice-related data, PTSD Checklist – Civilian Version (PCL-C) and the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Of the 124 respondents, 66.9% were at high risk for depression and 37.9% met criteria for diagnosis of PTSD. Female gender and perceived work-related stress were significantly associated with PTSD. PTSD and depression severity scores were positively correlated. These findings highlight the importance of timely mental support and intervention for medical workers.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• pandemic
• Egypt
• mental health
• physicians
• depression
• PTSD

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.