ReviewFrontiers in psychology2020
On the Nature of Fear and Anxiety Triggered by COVID-19.
Review in Frontiers in psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 106 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
106 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Turning to Religion During COVID-19 (Part II): A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis and Meta-regression of Studies on the Relationship between Religious Coping and Mental Health throughout COVID-19.Journal of religion and health · 2023Pooled it
- Fear of COVID-19, stress and depression: A meta-analytic test of the mediating role of anxiety.Psychology and psychotherapy · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Fear of COVID-19.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Pooled it
- Clinical effectiveness of guided breathing exercises in reducing anxiety, stress, and depression in COVID-19 patients.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Immune dysregulation and gut microbiota: Connection to health and disease development.Neural regeneration research · 2026Article
- Associations between social media exposure and COVID-19 preventive behaviors in post-zero-COVID China: a moderated mediation model of risk perception, fear, and mindfulness.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Effects of an app-based brief gratitude practice on positive and negative daily affect during the COVID-19 pandemic.Acta psychologica · 2025Article
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic: unveiling the traits that hold the key-a cross-sectional study.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Hospital Breastfeeding Support during the Early Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: Worsening Care for Black, Hispanic, and Asian Mothers.Maternal and child health journal · 2025Article
- The Mediating Role of Humor in Relation With COVID-19 Fear, Anxiety and Depression of Bangladeshi People: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- [Hypochondriacal fears and corona fears among medical students compared to doctors].Psychiatrische Praxis · 2025Article
- Everything feels just a little heavier, more wrought with implications, you know? - a mixed-methods study examining lifestyle behaviors, health, and well-being of pregnant and postpartum women during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Changes in self-reported alcohol consumption at high and low consumption in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic: a test of the polarization hypothesis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Article
- Pre-pandemic brain structure and COVID-19 fear: insights into posttraumatic stress and general distress.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Article
- Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being of middle-aged and older Europeans.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Storage of firearms in vehicles: findings from a sample of firearm owners in nine U.S. states.Injury epidemiology · 2024Article
- Adapting Minds: Exploring Cognition to Threatened Stimuli in the Post-COVID-19 Landscape Comparing Old and New Concerns about Pandemic.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- COPD Self-Management: A Patient-Physician Perspective.Pulmonary therapy · 2024Article
46 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Emergencies that occur during natural disasters, such as avalanches, earthquakes, and floods, tend to be sudden, unexpected, and ephemeral and recruit defensive responses, similar to the ones recruited when faced with dangerous animals. Defensive behaviors are triggered by activity in survival circuits that detects imminent threats and fear is the conscious emotion of that follows immediately. But this particular threat (COVID-19) is useable and mysterious, triggering anxieties much more than fear. We conducted a literature search on May 1, 2020 in Google Scholar, PsychInfo, and PubMed with search terms related to COVID-19 fears and found 28 relevant articles. We categorized the papers into six groups based on the content and implications: fear of the unknown, social isolation, hypochondriasis, disgust, information-driven fears, and compliance. Considering the nature of fear and anxiety, combined with the characteristics of the present COVID-19 situation, we contemplate that physicians and other health care workers of several specialties, as well as police officers, fire-fighters, and rescue personnel, and first responders might be more able to deal with COVID-19 if they have (a) some tolerance of the unknown, (b) low illness anxiety disorder, (c) tolerance to social isolation; (d) low levels of disgust sensitivity; (e) be granted financial support, (f) have priority if needed medical assistance (g) use caution relatively to the COVID-19 media coverage and (h) be trained to have high levels of efficacy. Possibilities for preventive and therapeutic interventions that can help both health care personnel and the general population are also discussed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.