Prevalence and factors for anxiety during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic among the teachers in China

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of anxiety and explore its factors during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic among the teachers in China. METHODS: We involved 88611 teachers (response rate: 94.75%) from three cities of Henan Province, China, during February 4, 2020 and February 12, 2020. Anxiety was assessed by using Generalized Anxiety Disorder tool (GAD-7). Odds ratios (OR) with 95% Confidence intervals (CI) for potential factors of anxiety were estimated using multiple logistic regression models. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of anxiety was 13.67%. The prevalence was higher for women than men (13.89% vs. 12.93%). The highest prevalence of anxiety was 14.06% (SE 2.51%) with age of 60 to 100 years in men, and 14.70% (SE 0.56%) with age of 50 to 60 years in women. Participants located in country-level city school had the lowest prevalence of anxiety across all age categories (12.01% for age of 18–30 years; 12.50% for age of 30–40 years; 12.13% for age of 40–50 years; 9.52% for age of 60–100 years). After adjusting for potential confounders, age, sex, education status, type of teachers, school location, information source, worried level, fear level, and behavior status were found to be associated with anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: This large-scale study assessed the prevalence of anxiety in teachers, as well as its potential influence of factors, which is useful for international and national decision-makers.