Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Jun 2021)

Differences in the Association of Anxiety, Insomnia and Somatic Symptoms between Medical Staff and the General Population During the Outbreak of COVID-19

  • Huang Y,
  • Zhou Y,
  • Wei Y,
  • Zeng L,
  • Yang J,
  • Li Y,
  • Song X,
  • Li H,
  • He H,
  • Li T,
  • Wu K,
  • Yang M,
  • Wu F,
  • Ning Y,
  • Zhang X

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 17
pp. 1907 – 1915

Abstract

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Yuanyuan Huang,1,* Yongjie Zhou,2,* Yi Wei,1 Lingyun Zeng,2 Jiezhi Yang,3 Yi Li,2 Xiuli Song,4 Hehua Li,1 Hongbo He,1 Ting Li,1 Kai Wu,5 Mingzhe Yang,1 Fengchun Wu,1,6,7 Yuping Ning,1,7 Xiangyang Zhang1,8 1Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (Guangzhou Huiai Hospital), Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Psychiatry, Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Psychiatry, Shenzhen Health Development Research Center, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China; 4Clinical Psychology, Yantai Affiliated Hospital of Binzhou Medical University, Yantai, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology (scUT), Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Psychiatry, Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center for Translational Medicine of Mental Disorders, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 7The First School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 8CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yuping NingDepartment of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (Guangzhou Huiai Hospital), 36 Mingxin Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou, 510370, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected] ZhangCAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected]: During the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), occupational differences were recognized with respect to psychological issues, but there are no reports regarding the insomnia and anxiety comorbidities and their related factors among the general public and medical staff. Our study aimed to compare the prevalence of anxiety and anxiety with insomnia, as well as the relationship between different psychological symptoms between the two groups.Methods: A total of 605 medical staff and 1091 public respondents were assessed through an online questionnaire survey, including the 7-item Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the somatization subscale of Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90-R), and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7).Results: Compared with the general public, medical staff had a higher incidence of anxiety (45.5% vs 32.4%). The incidence of insomnia in anxious participants was 52.7% in medical staff and 44.6% in the general public, and the difference was significant (p < 0.05). The GAD-7 score and somatization subscore of the SCI-90 were independently associated with insomnia among anxiety participants in both groups (all p < 0.001).Conclusion: Our findings suggest that during the epidemic period of COVID-19, medical staff experienced more anxiety and anxiety with insomnia. Somatization, anxiety and insomnia are highly correlated among medical staff and the general public.Keywords: somatic symptom, anxiety, insomnia, medical staff, COVID-19

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