The Physical and Mental Health of the Medical Staff in Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital During COVID-19 Epidemic: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Introduction: Early in the epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019, the Chinese government recruited a proportion of healthcare workers to support the designated hospital (Huoshenshan Hospital) in Wuhan, China. The majority of front-line medical staff suffered from adverse effects, but their real health status during COVID-19 epidemic was still unknown. The aim of the study was to explore the latent relationship of the physical and mental health of front-line medical staff during this special period.

Methods: A total of 115 military medical staff were recruited between February 17th and February 29th, 2020 and asked to complete questionnaires assessing socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, self-reported sleep status, fatigue, resilience and anxiety.

Results: 55 medical staff worked within Intensive Care and 60 worked in Non-intensive Care, the two groups were significantly different in reported general fatigue, physical fatigue and tenacity (). Gender, duration working in Wuhan, current perceived stress level and health status were associated with significant differences in fatigue scores ), the current perceived health status () and impacted on the resilience and anxiety of participants. The structural equation modeling analysis revealed resilience was negatively associated with fatigue (β=-0.52, <0.01) and anxiety (β=-0.24, <0.01), and fatigue had a direct association with the physical burden (β=0.65, <0.01); Fatigue mediated the relationship between resilience and anxiety (β=-0.305, =0.039) as well as resilience and physical burden (β=-0.276, =0.02).

Conclusion: During an explosive pandemic situation, motivating the effect of protective resilience and taking tailored interventions against fatigue are promising ways to protect the physical and mental health of the front-line medical staff.