Predictors of black fungus fear during the COVID-19 pandemic among the Bangladeshi health workers: a cross-sectional study

Background The emergence of mucormycosis cases amid the COVID-19 pandemic; fear associated with mucormycosis may turn out to be a terrifying public health issue. This study aimed to assess the association between fear and insomnia status and other predictors of mucormycosis among Bangladeshi healthcare workers. Methods From 25 May 2021 to 05 June 2021, a cross-sectional study was carried out among healthcare workers. A total of 422 healthcare workers participated in this study. A semi-structured online questionnaire was used for data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by convenient and snowball sampling methods. A multivariable linear regression model was fitted to assess the association between fear and insomnia status and other predictors of mucormycosis. Results The results indicated that the respondents with insomnia status had a higher score of mucormycosis fear than not having insomnia (β = 3.91, 95% CI: 2.49, 5.33, p <0.001), significantly. Alongside the increased knowledge score of mucormycosis, the average score of fear increased significantly(β = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.20, 0.50, p <0.001). The gender, profession, and death of friends and family members due to COVID-19 significantly affected mucormycosis fear score increment. Conclusions This is the first study that focused on assessing the association between mucormycosis fear and insomnia status among the health care workers so far. These study findings recommend emphasizing the mental health aspects and ensuring support to the healthcare workers to better tackle the ongoing public health crisis.