The current COVID-19 pandemic has been officially linked to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people across the globe in just a few months. It is particularly lethal for the elderly in general, as well as for populations residing in long-term stay facilities. By this time, those working and caring for high-risk populations have been exposed to very intense and sudden levels of physical and psychological strain. The situation has taken a particularly tragic turn in residential nursing and care homes (NCH), which were hit hard by the pandemic. In residential NCH, neither residents nor workers tend to have immediate access to the same expertise, medication and equipment as in hospitals, which exacerbates an already tense situation. Among the mental health conditions related to exposure to potentially traumatic events, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety are the most prevalent and scientifically recognized. In this survey-based epidemiological study, we test the prevalence of anxiety and post-traumatic symptomatology in residential nursing and care home workers—a group of individuals that has been largely neglected but who nonetheless plays a very important and sensitive role in our society. We do this by focusing on the North of Italy, the most affected region during the first COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. Using a single-stage cluster design, our study returns an estimate for the prevalence of moderate-to-severe anxiety and/or post-traumatic symptomatology of 43% (s.e. = 3.09; 95% CI [37–49]), with an 18% (s.e. = 1.83; 95% CI [14–22]) prevalence of comorbidity among workers of Northern Italian NCH between 15 June and 25 July 2020 (i.e. 12–52 days after the end of national lockdown). Women and workers who had recently been in contact with COVID-19-positive patients/colleagues are more likely to report moderate-to-severe symptoms, with odds ratios of 2.2 and 1.7, respectively.

当前的 COVID-19 大流行已被正式认定与短短几个月内全球数十万人的死亡有关。对于一般老年人以及长期居住在设施中的人群来说，这种病毒尤其致命。此时，那些工作和照顾高危人群的人已经面临着非常强烈和突然的身体和心理压力。受疫情重创的寄宿疗养院（NCH）的情况尤其悲惨。在住宅 NCH 中，居民和工作人员往往无法立即获得与医院相同的专业知识、药物和设备，这加剧了本已紧张的局势。在与潜在创伤事件相关的心理健康状况中，创伤后应激障碍和焦虑是最普遍且得到科学认可的。在这项基于调查的流行病学研究中，我们测试了住院护理人员和护理之家工作人员的焦虑和创伤后症状的患病率，这一群体在很大程度上被忽视，但在我们的社会中仍然发挥着非常重要和敏感​​的作用。为此，我们重点关注意大利北部，这是意大利首次爆发 COVID-19 期间受影响最严重的地区。使用单阶段聚类设计，我们的研究得出中度至重度焦虑和/或创伤后症状患病率的估计值为 43%（se = 3.09；95% CI [37–49]），其中2020 年 6 月 15 日至 7 月 25 日期间（即国家封锁结束后 12-52 天），意大利北部 NCH 工人的合并症患病率为 18%（se = 1.83；95% CI [14-22]）。最近接触过 COVID-19 阳性患者/同事的女性和工人更有可能报告中度至重度症状，比值比分别为 2.2 和 1.7。