ArticleBMJ open2021
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety and depression symptoms of young people in the global south: evidence from a four-country cohort study.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 122 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Women's mental health and COVID-19: increased vulnerability and inequalities.Frontiers in global women's health · 2024Pooled it
- Prevalence of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis of over 2 million people.Journal of affective disorders · 2022Pooled it
- Children's social connections, internet usage and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Global South: evidence from Disrupting Harm.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Factors associated with mental health among young adults: Cross-country longitudinal evidence from Ethiopia, India, and Peru.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Loneliness, depression, and generalized anxiety across eight countries.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- From childhood malnutrition to adult mental illness: COVID-19 and the hidden legacy of malnutrition.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Personal wellbeing and depression among Thai people living in poverty: evidence from the COVID-19 crisis.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Emerging Adult Resilience to the Early Stages of the COVID-Pandemic: A Systematic Scoping Review.Child psychiatry and human development · 2025Article
- The Relationship Between Parental Psychological Control and College Students' Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: The Chain Mediation Roles of Relative Deprivation and Depression and the Moderating Role of Peer Relationships.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- A cross-sectional study on depression, anxiety, and stress among the Bangladeshi population amid COVID-19.Discover mental health · 2025Article
- Clinical utility of the GAD-7 for detecting generalized anxiety in Quechua indigenous people.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people living with HIV in Lesotho: a qualitative study.BMJ public health · 2024Article
- Application of tele-neuropsychology and tele-mental health before and during COVID-19 era: a bibliometric analysis.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2024Review
- Walk-in mental health: Bridging barriers in a pandemic.PloS one · 2024Article
- An exploratory cross-cultural study of community-based health literacy interventions to promote the mental well-being of disadvantaged and disabled young Africans: a multi-method approach.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and government restrictions on the lives of young adults living with HIV in Kisumu, Kenya.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Depression and anxiety symptoms among Vietnamese migrants in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic.Tropical medicine and health · 2023Article
- Estimated impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prevalence and treatment of depressive symptoms in Peru: an interrupted time series analysis in 2014-2021.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2023Article
- Mental health problems and resilience in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic in a post-armed conflict area in Colombia.Scientific reports · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 8 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo provide evidence on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of young people who grew up in poverty in low/middle-income countries (LMICs).
designA phone survey administered between August and October 2020 to participants of a population-based longitudinal cohort study established in 2002 comprising two cohorts born in 1994-1995 and 2001-2002 in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), Peru and Vietnam. We use logistic regressions to examine associations between mental health and pandemic-related stressors, structural factors (gender, age), and lifelong protective/risk factors (parent and peer relationship, wealth, long-term health problems, past emotional problems, subjective well-being) measured at younger ages.
settingA geographically diverse, poverty-focused sample, also reaching those without mobile phones or internet access.
participants10 496 individuals were approached; 9730 participated. Overall, 8988 individuals were included in this study; 4610 (51%) men and 4378 (49%) women. Non-inclusion was due to non-location or missing data.
main outcome measuresSymptoms consistent with at least mild anxiety or depression were measured by Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (≥5) or Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (≥5).
resultsRates of symptoms of at least mild anxiety (depression) were highest in Peru at 41% (32%) (95% CI 38.63% to 43.12%; (29.49-33.74)), and lowest in Vietnam at 9% (9%) (95% CI 8.16% to 10.58%; (8.33-10.77)), mirroring COVID-19 mortality rates. Women were most affected in all countries except Ethiopia. Pandemic-related stressors such as health risks/expenses, economic adversity, food insecurity, and educational or employment disruption were risk factors for anxiety and depression, though showed varying levels of importance across countries. Prior parent/peer relationships were protective factors, while long-term health or emotional problems were risk factors.
conclusionPandemic-related health, economic and social stress present significant risks to the mental health of young people in LMICs where mental health support is limited, but urgently needed to prevent long-term consequences.
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