Skip to main content

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of public health workers during the COVID-19 epidemic (n, %)

From: Working conditions and health status of 6,317 front line public health workers across five provinces in China during the COVID-19 epidemic: a cross-sectional study

Variables

All (N = 6317)

CDC employees (n = 2313)

PHI workers (n = 4004)

p value

Socio-demographic characteristics

 Sex (male)c

2238 (35.4)

987 (42.7)

1251 (31.2)

<0.001

 Age groups (years)d

   

0.004

  <29

1244 (19.7)

392 (16.9)

852 (21.3)

 

  30–39

2093 (33.1)

819 (35.4)

1274 (31.8)

 

  40–49

2132 (33.8)

748 (32.3)

1384 (34.6)

 

  >50

848 (13.4)

354 (15.3)

494 (12.3)

 

 Having children younger than 6 years (yes)c

1765 (27.9)

677 (29.3)

1088 (27.2)

0.074

 Job titlec

   

<0.001

 Junior

2880 (45.6)

745 (32.2)

2135 (53.3)

 

 Intermediate

1984 (31.4)

800 (34.6)

1184 (29.6)

 

  Senior

712 (11.3)

504 (21.8)

208 (5.2)

 

  Others (e.g., volunteers)

741 (11.7)

264 (11.4)

477 (11.9)

 

COVID-19 control and prevention work related variables

 Outbreak severity (by province)a, d

   

<0.001

  Low

591 (9.4)

477 (20.6)

114 (2.8)

 

  Medium

3638 (57.6)

1224 (52.9)

2414 (60.3)

 

  High

830 (13.1)

282 (12.2)

548 (13.7)

 

  Very high

1258 (19.9)

330 (14.3)

928 (23.2)

 

 Work contentc

   

<0.001

  Involved in field work

1556 (24.6)

352 (15.2)

1204 (30.1)

 

  Involved in non-field work

235 (3.7)

149 (6.2)

86 (2.1)

 

  Involved in both field and non-field work

4526 (71.6)

1812 (78.3)

2714 (67.8)

 

 Duration of training on COVID-19d

   

<0.001

  None

180 (2.8)

113 (4.9)

67 (1.7)

 

  1–4 hours

1128 (17.9)

411 (17.8)

717 (17.9)

 

  5–8 hours

876 (13.9)

339 (14.7)

537 (13.4)

 

  9–16 hours

939 (14.9)

350 (15.1)

589 (14.7)

 

  >16 hours

3194 (50.6)

1100 (47.6)

2094 (52.3)

 

 Level of knowledge of COVID-19 prevention and controld

   

<0.001

  Adequate

975 (15.4)

275 (11.9)

700 (17.5)

 

  Relatively adequate

3700 (58.6)

1397 (60.4)

2303 (57.5)

 

  Average

1537 (24.3)

580 (25.1)

957 (23.9)

 

  Inadequate/very inadequate

105 (1.7)

61 (2.6)

44 (1.1)

 

 Start time of COVID-19 prevention and control work (after 23 January 2020)c

3613 (60.0)

1098 (50.1)

2515 (65.6)

<0.001

Efforts and sacrifices during the outbreak

 Number of days worked all nightd

   

<0.001

  0

3617 (57.3)

1073 (46.4)

2544 (63.5)

 

  1–3 days

1459 (23.1)

621 (26.8)

838 (20.9)

 

  >3 days

1241 (19.6)

619 (26.8)

622 (15.5)

 

 Worked throughout Chinese New Year (yes)c

2862 (45.3)

1313 (56.8)

1549 (38.7)

<0.001

 To avoid infecting family members, chose not to live at home (yes)c

878 (13.9)

305 (13.2)

573 (14.3)

0.213

 To avoid infecting family members, sent children to parents’ homes (yes)c

935 (14.8)

338 (14.6)

597 (14.9)

0.749

Perceptions

 Worried about being infected at workd

   

<0.001

  None/mild

2461 (39.0)

1023 (44.2)

1438 (35.9)

 

  Medium

2264 (35.8)

795 (34.4)

1469 (36.7)

 

  Very worried

1592 (25.2)

495 (21.4)

1097 (27.4)

 

 Perceived ability to maintain current work intensity for ≥1 monthd

2315 (36.6)

750 (32.4)

1565 (39.1)

<0.001

 Perceived support from colleaguesd

   

0.098

  None/low

383 (6.1)

143 (6.2)

240 (6.0)

 

  Medium

2448 (38.8)

858 (37.1)

1590 (39.7)

 

  High/very high

3486 (55.2)

1312 (56.7)

2174 (54.3)

 

 Perceived support from familyd

   

<0.001

  None/low

122 (1.9)

48 (2.1)

74 (1.8)

 

  Medium

1334 (21.1)

410 (17.7)

924 (23.1)

 

  High/very high

4861 (77.0)

1855 (80.2)

3006 (75.1)

 

 Perceived support from societyd

   

0.014

  None/low

757 (12.0)

323 (14.0)

434 (10.8)

 

  Medium

2779 (44.0)

999 (43.2)

1780 (44.5)

 

  High/very high

2781 (44.0)

991 (42.8)

1790 (44.7)

 

Total score of perceived supportb

10.99 ± 1.95

11.02 ± 1.91

10.98 ± 1.97

0.360

Perceived troubles at work

 Your work was not understoodd

   

0.002

  None/rare

2671 (42.3)

918 (39.7)

1753 (43.8)

 

  Sometimes

2490 (39.4)

945 (40.9)

1545 (38.6)

 

  Much/very much

1156 (18.3)

450 (19.5)

706 (17.6)

 

 You have been treated unfairly at workd

   

<0.001

  None/rare

3471 (54.9)

1191 (51.5)

2280 (56.9)

 

  Sometimes

1997 (31.6)

753 (32.5)

1244 (31.1)

 

  Much/very much

849 (13.4)

369 (16.0)

480 (12.0)

 

 You felt wronged at workd

   

<0.001

  None/rare

3022 (47.8)

1030 (44.5)

1992 (49.8)

 

 Sometimes

2245 (35.5)

848 (36.7)

1397 (34.9)

 

  Much/very much

1050 (16.6)

435 (18.8)

615 (15.4)

 

 Your family cannot understand your effortsd

   

0.326

  None/rare

4976 (78.8)

1837 (79.4)

3139 (78.4)

 

  Sometimes

1076 (17.0)

384 (16.6)

692 (17.3)

 

  Much/very much

265 (4.2)

92 (4.0)

173 (4.3)

 

 You worried about routine works besides the COVID-19 epidemicd

   

<0.001

  None/rare

2730 (43.2)

1085 (46.9)

1645 (41.1)

 

  Sometimes

2527 (40.0)

869 (37.6)

1658 (41.4)

 

  Much/very much

1060 (16.8)

359 (15.5)

701 (17.5)

 

Total score of perceived troubles at work

12.25 ± 3.74

12.39 ± 3.82

12.17 ± 3.69

0.023

Mental health status and self-perceived health

 PHQ-9b

5.94 ± 5.59

   

 Depression (yes)c

1034 (21.3)

521 (27.1)

513 (17.5)

<0.001

 GAD-7b

5.69 ± 5.07

   

 Anxiety (yes)c

920 (19.0)

396 (20.6)

524 (17.9)

<0.001

 Self-perceived healthd

   

<0.001

  Very good

974 (15.4)

199 (8.6)

775 (19.4)

 

  Good

2504 (39.6)

841 (36.4)

1663 (41.5)

 

  Average

2221 (35.2)

926 (40.0)

1295 (32.3)

 

  Poor

555 (8.8)

303 (13.1)

252 (6.3)

 

  Very poor

63 (1.0)

44 (1.9)

19 (0.5)

 
  1. Abbreviations: COVID-19 coronavirus disease 2019, PHQ-9 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire, GAD-7 seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale
  2. a Epidemic severity (by province): 1. Very low (0–19); 2. Low (20–199); 3. Medium (200–699); 4. High (700–9,999); 5. Very high (> 10,000). Values represent the total number of confirmed cases in each province by 25 February 2020.
  3. b The t-test was used.
  4. c The chi-square test was used.
  5. d The rank-sum test was used.