Comparison of health workers’ anxiety levels in coronavirus disease and regular intensive care unit Saiful Anwar Hospital Malang: A cross-sectional study

Background: On a regional and global level, the prevalence of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases is rising daily, splitting intensive care units (ICUs) into COVID-19 ICUs and regular ICUs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Numerous studies have revealed that COVID-19 ICU health personnel had higher levels of anxiety than those in the regular ICU. This study aimed to compare the levels of anxiety among medical personnel in the regular ICU and the COVID-19 ICU. Materials and Methods: This is a population-based observational study. All healthcare workers working in COVID-19 and regular ICU at our institution were included in this study. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaire was used to measure the level of anxiety. Mann–Whitney test was used to compare the anxiety level of participants in both groups. Results: Of the 108 participants who filled out the questionnaire, there were 99 eligible subjects for further analysis. The mean GAD-7 score for COVID-19 ICU health professionals was higher (3.87 ± 4.18) than for regular ICU (1.87 ± 2.38), causing significant differences between the two groups (P = 0.005). Among all observed variables, a significant difference of anxiety levels between groups were found in age (P = 0.032) and education (P = 0.036) variables.. Conclusion: The anxiety levels among health workers in the COVID-19 ICU were significantly higher compared to those in the regular ICU setting.