Post-traumatic stress symptoms in hemodialysis patients with MERS-CoV exposure

Cho, A Jin; Lee, Hong-Seock; Lee, Young-Ki; Jeon, Hee Jung; Park, Hayne Cho; Jeong, Da-Wun; Kim, Yang-Gyun; Lee, Sang-Ho; Lee, Chang-Hee; Yoo, Kyung Don; Wong, Ae Kyeong

The present study examined post-traumatic stress symptoms from the quarantine experience of HD patients during the outbreak of MERS-CoV in Korea. In total, 17.9% of the patients developed stress symptoms with scores over the IES-R-K cut-off. Several studies have reported the psychological impact of the quarantine experience [13, 14] . Reynolds et al. showed that of the feelings experienced during SARS quarantine, boredom (62.2%), isolation (60.6%), and frustration (58.5%) were most commonly reported. In that study, an IES-R score of at least 20 was obtained by 14.6% of respondents [14] . In a study on the psychological effects of SARS quarantine in Toronto, the 129 quarantined persons who responded to a Web-based survey exhibited a high prevalence of psychological distress [13] . Symptoms of PTSD and depression were observed in 28.9 and 31.2% of respondents, respectively. In these studies, quarantine type was home or work. Subjects were not hospitalized.