Mental health conditions among health workers by time spent on COVID

Prevalence of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and suicidal ideation in the past 2 weeks among U.S. public health workers as of April 2021, by time spent on COVID–19 response activities

Percentage of time spent on COVID–19 response activities	Depression*	Anxiety*	PTSD*	Suicidal ideation*
None	23.6%	23%	22.3%	7.6%
1–25	24.9%	23.5%	24.3%	7.5%
26–50	28.9%	26.7%	31.6%	8.4%
51–75	31.6%	30.6%	37%	8.6%
≥76	37.9%	35.9%	47%	8.9%

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Release date

July 2021

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

April 2021

Number of respondents

26,174 respondents

Special properties

State, tribal, local, and territorial public health workers

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

*Symptoms of mental health conditions were scored and categorized by severity. Respondents who scored ≥10.0 out of 27 on the PHQ-9 for depression, ≥3.0 out of 6 on the GAD-2 for anxiety, or ≥1.75 out of 4 on the IES-6 for PTSD were considered symptomatic for the respective conditions. Respondents who indicated that they would be better off dead or thought of hurting themselves at any time in the past 2 weeks were categorized as experiencing suicidal ideation.

Citation formats

In April 2021, around 47 percent of U.S. health workers who worked more than 75 percent of their time on COVID-19 response activities reported having post-traumatic stress disorder in the past 2 weeks, much higher compared to health workers who did not spend time working on COVID-19 response activities. This statistic illustrates the prevalence of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and suicidal ideation in the past 2 weeks among public health workers in the United States as of April 2021, by share of time spent on COVID–19 response activities.