The emotional state of medical workers and HIV-infected patients in relation to the COVID-19 epidemic

Objective To investigate self-assessments of emotional state and behavioral strategies to reduce stress related to coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in HIV-infected patients and healthcare workers Subjects and methods A questionnaire survey covered 192 respondents: 67 healthcare workers in Moscow (Group 1), 79 HIV-infected patients (Group 2), and 46 respondents in the comparison group (Group 3) Results When assessing the risks for COVID-19 infection, the respondents in Group 1 more commonly reported an increased infection risk (34 32%) When answering a question indicator, the respondents in Group 2 more often chose the option of the same risk as most people ( 72 15%) This group was noted to have also the largest share of risk denial (18 98%) 78 26% of the respondents in the comparison group considered the risk of getting coronavirus infection to be the same as the majority of people The median self-assessment of emotional state in relation to coronavirus among the respondents in Group 2 (9 0 [5 0;8 0] points) was statistically significantly higher than that in Group 1 (6 0 [5 0;8 0]points;p < 0 001) and in Group 3 (6 0 [5 0;8 0] points;p