Psychological symptoms in healthcare workers following the COVID-19 pandemic and relationship to long-term cardiovascular risk

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency department (ED) healthcare workers (HCWs) were already known to be at greater psychological risk than nearly every other subgroup of clinicians. Psychological and physiological stress factors have been drastically magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among frontline ED HCWs in New York City, the initial US epicenter of the outbreak. It is therefore critical to understand the degree of sustained psychological symptoms seen in ED HCWs who treated COVID-19 patients, as well as the downstream impacts on cardiovascular health.