Impact of Covid 19 epidemic on mental health of frontline healthcare workers in Tertiary care hospitals in North India

<bold>Aim:</bold> To assess prevalence of depression, stress, anxiety and insomnia in frontline health care workers during Covid 19 epidemic. <bold>Methods:</bold> This Multicentric Cross sectional online survey-based study collected demographic data, mental health measurements from 255 healthcare workers in different parts of North India from Oct 15th, 2020 to Jan 10th, 2021. The degree of symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and insomnia were assessed by 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire Score, 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Score, Perceived Stress Scale Score and 7-item Insomnia Severity Index. Qualitative data is expressed in form of % and comparison between two groups done using chi square test & fisher’s exact test. Comparison between 2 groups using student t test & Mann Whitney test. Regression was performed. <bold>Results:</bold> Frontline workers had significantly higher prevalence of depression with most of them having mild to minimal (36.7% and 50.5% respectively) as compared to 2nd line (22.4% and 77.6%), prevalence of anxiety was significantly more in frontline heathcare workers as compared to 2nd line (64.2%and 58.5%). Stress was significantly higher in frontline workers than 2nd line with most of them suffering from moderate stress (63.8% and 44.8%). Insomnia in frontline workers was significantly higher than 2nd line (31.9% & 13.4%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed significantly more stress and insomnia in frontline healthcare workers <bold>Conclusion:</bold> In this study of healthcare workers in hospitals taking care of COVID19 patients in North India, frontline workers reported higher incidence of experiencing depression, anxiety, stress and insomnia as compared to 2nd line.