Prevalence of Chronic Diseases, Depression, and Stress Among US Childcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Elharake, Jad A. ; Shafiq, Mehr ; Cobanoglu, Ayse ; Malik, Amyn A. ; Klotz, Madeline ; Humphries, John Eric ; Murray, Thomas ; Patel, Kavin M. ; Wilkinson, David ; Yildirim, Inci ; Diaz, Rachel ; Rojas, Rosalia ; Kuperwajs Cohen, Anael ; Lee, Aiden ; Omer, Saad B. ; Gilliam, Walter S.
• Description:
  Introduction
  
  Given their central role in supporting children’s development, childcare professionals’ overall physical and mental health is important. We evaluated the prevalence of chronic diseases, depression, and stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic among US childcare professionals.
  
  Methods
  
  Data were obtained from US childcare professionals (N = 81,682) through an online survey from May 22, 2020, through June 8, 2020. We used multivariable logistic and linear regression models to assess the association of sociodemographic characteristics with 4 physical health conditions (asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity), depression, and stress weighted to national representativeness.
  
  Results
  
  For physical health conditions, 14.3% (n = 11,717) reported moderate to severe asthma, 6.5% (n = 5,317) diabetes, 4.9% (n = 3,971) heart disease, and 19.8% (n = 16,207) obesity. For mental health, 45.7% (n = 37,376) screened positive for depression and 66.5% (n = 54,381) reported moderate to high stress levels. Race, ethnicity, and sex/gender disparities were found for physical health conditions but not mental health of childcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  
  Conclusion
  
  Our findings highlighted that childcare professionals’ depression rates during the pandemic were higher than before the pandemic, and depression, stress, and asthma rates were higher than rates among US adults overall during the pandemic. Given the essential work childcare professionals provided during the pandemic, policy makers and public health officials should consider what can be done to support their physical and mental health.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Asthma Child Child Care Chronic Disease COVID-19 Depression Heart Diseases Humans Obesity Pandemics Prevalence SARS-CoV-2

  More +
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 2022; 19
• DOI:
  http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd19.220132
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Pubmed ID:
  36137183
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC9541678
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Volume:
  19
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2c96a9d156864e1c0e9001e0d48d75491eb3cf9a7643dce6e3ced253a0910908d36c112bd6ef9d90fa7856351f6e99aa6887d3c81eec428e775083121622cffe
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/122402/cdc_122402_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 584.34 KB ]