ArticleSSM - population health2020
Mental health and economic concerns from March to May during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada: Insights from an analysis of repeated cross-sectional surveys.
Article in SSM - population health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
32 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 74 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- What is known about the prevalence of household food insecurity in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2022Pooled it
- The relationship between financial disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of public health research · 2025Review
- The role of financial stress, food insecurity, and COVID-19-related illness concerns shaping mental health in five South Asian countries during the pandemic (2020-2022): A secondary analysis of the online COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey (CTIS) data.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Impact of pandemic-related worries on mental health in India from 2020 to 2022.Npj mental health research · 2024Article
- Short-term changes in mental health help-seeking behaviors following exposure to multiple social stressors and a natural disaster.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2024Article
- Article
- Anticipatory stress, state policy contexts, and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.SSM - population health · 2023Article
- The effects of COVID-19-era unemployment and business closures upon the physical and mental health of older Europeans: Mediation through financial circumstances and social activity.SSM - population health · 2023Article
- Trajectories of the socioeconomic gradient of mental health: Results from the CLSA COVID-19 Questionnaire Study.Health policy (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2023Article
- Young Adults' Mental Health and Unmet Service Needs in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic Across Canada and France.Community mental health journal · 2023Article
- Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health and Socioeconomic Aspects in Greece.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The short and long-term impact of COVID-19 restrictions on women's mental health in Mwanza, Tanzania: A longitudinal study.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Evaluation of the physical and emotional effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with fibromyalgia and chronic low back pain: A multicenter cross-sectional controlled study.Turkish journal of physical medicine and rehabilitation · 2022Article
- The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health: A Web-Based Study Among Romanian Adults.Cureus · 2022Article
- Economic Recovery but Stagnating Mental Health During a Global Pandemic? Evidence from Ghana and South Africa.The Review of income and wealth · 2022Article
- Generalized anxiety disorder during COVID-19 in Canada: Gender-specific association of COVID-19 misinformation exposure, precarious employment, and health behavior change.Journal of affective disorders · 2022Article
- Mental Health and Obesity During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Current obesity reports · 2022Review
- Digital phenotyping for classification of anxiety severity during COVID-19.Frontiers in digital health · 2022Article
- Mental Health Inequities Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings From Three Rounds of a Cross-Sectional Monitoring Survey of Canadian Adults.International journal of public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic impacted the psychological wellbeing of populations worldwide. In this study, we assess changes in mental health during the early months of the pandemic in Canada and examine its relationship with another prominent problem during this time, economic concerns.
methodsAnalyses were based on two cycles of the nationally representative repeated cross-sectional Canadian Perspectives Survey Series (N=4627 in March and 4600 in May). We described the changes in mental health and economic concerns between March and May, and assessed the relationship between the two characteristics.
resultsMental health declined significantly during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic: the proportion of Canadian adults who reported only good/fair/poor mental health grew from 46% to 52% from March to May. Economic concerns including food insecurity were an important correlate of 'bad' mental health, as was younger age, female gender, and Canada-born status. Contrary to expectations, however, economic concerns lessened during this time frame.
conclusionsThese findings suggest that policies to mitigate economic stress, such as Canada's Emergency Response Benefit, may have eased mental health deterioration in early pandemic months through a reduction in financial hardship. Interventions to increase the economic security of the population will have far-reaching consequences in terms of improved mental health, and should be continued throughout the pandemic.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.