Open Access, Peer-reviewed
pISSN 1015-4817
eISSN 2289-0963
    J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc. 2017 Feb;56(1):28-34. Korean.
    Published online Feb 28, 2017.
    https://doi.org/10.4306/jknpa.2017.56.1.28
    Copyright © 2017 Korean Neuropsychiatric Association
    Original Article

    Psychological Effects on Medical Doctors from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Outbreak : A Comparison of Whether They Worked at the MERS Occurred Hospital or Not, and Whether They Participated in MERS Diagnosis and Treatment

    Dae Hyun Um, MD,1 Jang Sub Kim, MA,1 Hae Woo Lee, MD, PhD,2 and So Hee Lee, MD, PhD1
      • 1Department of Psychiatry, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
      • 2Department of Psychiatry, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
    • Address for correspondence: So Hee Lee, MD, PhD. Department of Psychiatry, National Medical Center, 245 Eulji-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul 04564, Korea. Tel +82-2-2260-7292, Fax +82-2-2268-5028, Email: psyhee@hanmail.net
    Received November 16, 2016; Revised January 10, 2017; Accepted January 17, 2017.

    Abstract

    Objectives

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate psychological effects of an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), a newly emerged infectious disease, on doctors.

    Methods

    After the MERS outbreak was over, we conducted an online survey of doctors who worked at the hospitals in which exposure to MERS cases had been confirmed or who were directly involved in MERS diagnosis and treatment. The Patient Health Questionnaires-9 (PHQ-9) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) assessment methods were used to assess the severity of depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms among the 64 doctors participating in the survey.

    Results

    The results of the survey indicate that 26.6% (n=17) of participants exhibited depressive symptoms and 7.8% (n=5) had post-traumatic stress symptoms. The doctors employed at hospitals with MERS cases had higher PHQ-9 and IES-R mean scores than those in doctors were not so employed. In contrast, there was no significant difference in those test scores between doctors who participated directly in MERS diagnosis and treatment and those doctors who did not.

    Conclusion

    The survey demonstrated that 28.1% (n=18) of doctors involved in MERS care suffered from depressive or posttraumatic stress symptoms, even though the MERS infection was being controlled. Working at a hospital with MERS cases was the primary determinant of the adverse psychological outcomes among doctors ; however, direct participation in the diagnosis and care of MERS patients was not significantly related to such outcomes.

    Keywords
    Middle East respiratory syndrome; Emerging Infectious Disease; Heathcare worker; Depressive symptoms; Posttraumatic stress symptoms

    Tables

    Table 1
    Demographic characteristics of the study respondents

    Table 2
    PHQ-9 and IES-R scores among groups

    Table 3
    Comparison of the perception of threat of MERS among groups

    Table 4
    Logistic regression analysis assessing independent predictor of symptom

    Notes

    Conflicts of Interest:The authors have no financial conflicts of interest.

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    MeSH Terms
    Communicable Diseases
    Communicable Diseases, Emerging
    Coronavirus Infections*
    Depression
    Diagnosis*
    Humans
    Middle East*
    Metrics
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