Chronic Ptsd And Other Psychological Sequelae In A Group Of Frontline Healthcare Workers Who Contracted And Survived Sars

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic of 2003 was highly concentrated in health care settings and resulted in a high number of health care workers (HCWs) contracting the disease. The SARS epidemic has improved our understanding of how trauma impacts frontline HCWs who serve as first responders during an infectious disease outbreak. However, our insight into the trajectory of frontline HCWs' morbidity posttrauma continues to be limited, as the majority of the previous work has focused on the short-term or immediate impact of SARS on HCWs, with only a few studies dedicated to the evaluation of its long-term or sustained impact. Previous research into the long-term impact of SARS on HCWs spans 1-3 years postoutbreak. The present study extends previous research by examining HCWs up to 7 years postoutbreak. More specifically, frontline HCWs who contracted and survived SARS were evaluated at 1 year (2004), 4 years (2007), and 7 years (2010) postoutbreak by using a within-participants design. Across all three time points, frontline HCWs showed a lack of abatement in clinically significant levels of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology. In addition, HCWs reported below average and persistent functional outcomes, such as problems with pain, reduced vitality, and reductions in physical, mental, and social functioning. Finally, we report on the particular psychiatric variables from 1 year postoutbreak that are significantly associated with functional debility at 4 and 7 years postoutbreak. Findings of this study underscore the importance of understanding the long-term sequelae of infectious disease outbreaks on frontline HCWs, in order to decrease the likelihood of chronic adverse outcomes in this population. This information is especially relevant now, given the current global outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).