The Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Anxiety Disorders among Workers in a Hospital in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan

Abstract

Introduction. During the global COVID-19 pandemic, health workers were found to have a higher prevalence of
anxiety disorder compared to non-health workers. Anxiety disorder that occurs chronically have a 25% chance to become a major depression disorder.

Objective. The aim of this study is to understand the anxiety condition and related risk factors among workers in a Balikpapan hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method. The design of this research used a cross sectional method that involved 279 respondents who are workers in a Balikpapan hospital. The study used SPSS version 20.0, using the chi square and Fisher’s Exact test for the bivariate analysis, and the logistic regression with enter method for the multivariate analysis.

Results. The study shows that using the General Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) questionnaire from 279 hospital
workers, there were 10.8% with mild-, 1.45% with moderate-, and 0.4% with severe anxiety disorder. A significant relation was found between anxiety disorder and risk factors such as being a health worker with p=0.001 and a 4.8 OR_adj (95% CI: 1.9-12.3), working in areas with high risk of transmitting COVID-19 with p=0.04 and a 5.1 OR_adj (95% CI: 1.0-24.2), and workers who are being quarantined with p=0.001 a 10.5 ORadj (2.6-42.3) after being adjusted by age and gender variables.

Conclusion. Significant relations were found between anxiety disorder among hospital workers with risk factors
such as being health workers, working in areas with high risk of transmitting COVID-19, and workers who are
being quarantined. Researchers strongly advise health providers to do regular monitoring and seek moral support especially for workers who have higher risk of anxiety disorder.