The Correlation Between Mental Health and Corona Anxiety Among Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine Clinicians Abstract

Background: According to the literature, pre-hospital emergency medicine clinicians’ mental health has most likely been ignored during the COVID-19 outbreak. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between mental health and corona anxiety among pre-hospital emergency medicine clinicians during the COVID-19 outbreak in Isfahan, Iran. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Isfahan, Iran, from May to July 2020. All participants voluntarily participated in this study, and an informed consent was obtained. Data collection was done through completing two questionnaires, including the Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Data were analyzed with SPSS version 18 using the Pearson correlation test and multivariate linear regression. Results: A preliminary data analysis of CDAS and GHQ showed a significant correlation between the total score of COVID-19 anxiety and general health (r = 0.6, P 0.001). Also, multivariate analysis showed that field of study (B = 0.13; P-value = 0.005) and COVID-19 anxiety were significant predictors for general health (B = 0.6; P-value 0.001). Conclusions: According to the findings, the higher the anxiety score, the poorer one’s general health and the more likely they are to have mental disorders. Therefore, it is recommended to provide mental health services for pre-hospital emergency medicine clinicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.