ReviewHeliyon2021
Prevalence of anxiety and depression in South Asia during COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Heliyon, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 59 papers, 10 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
59 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Burden and predisposing factors of physical inactivity among adults in Africa: Systematic review and Meta-analysis.PloS one · 2026Pooled it
- Depressive and anxiety symptoms amid COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers in a low-resource setting: a systematic review and meta-analysis from Ethiopia.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- COVID-19 and common mental health symptoms in the early phase of the pandemic: An umbrella review of the evidence.PLoS medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of global health · 2022Pooled it
- Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression Among the General Population in Africa During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Meta-analytic evidence of depression and anxiety in Eastern Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2022Pooled it
- Mental Health during the COVID-19 Crisis in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Scientific evidence on mental health in key regions under the COVID-19 pandemic - meta-analytical evidence from Africa, Asia, China, Eastern Europe, Latin America, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Spain.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2021Pooled it
- Psychological distress among healthcare providers during COVID-19 in Asia: Systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Obesity Related Out-of-Pocket Expenditure and Productivity Loss: Evidence From Cross-Sectional Study in Bangladesh.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Home-based digital counselling by frontline community workers for anxiety and depression symptoms in rural Sindh, Pakistan: the mPareshan intervention.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown on the mental health of people exposed to the terrorist attacks of 13 November 2015.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Article
- 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
- Is anxiety a public health problem among older adults in India: Results from a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2024Review
- Article
- Utilization of antidepressants, anxiolytics, and hypnotics during the COVID-19 pandemic.Translational psychiatry · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has impacted biopsychosocial health and wellbeing globally. Pre-pandemic studies suggest a high prevalence of common mental disorders, including anxiety and depression in South Asian countries, which may aggravate during this pandemic. This systematic meta-analytic review was conducted to estimate the pooled prevalence of anxiety and depression in South Asian countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodWe systematically searched for cross-sectional studies on eight major bibliographic databases and additional sources up to October 12, 2020, that reported the prevalence of anxiety or depression in any of the eight South Asian countries. A random-effects model was used to calculate the pooled proportion of anxiety and depression.
resultsA total of 35 studies representing 41,402 participants were included in this review. The pooled prevalence of anxiety in 31 studies with a pooled sample of 28,877 was 41.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 34.7-48.1,
conclusionSouth Asian countries have high prevalence rates of anxiety and depression, suggesting a heavy psychosocial burden during this pandemic. Clinical and public mental health interventions should be prioritized alongside improving the social determinants of mental health in these countries. Lastly, a low number of studies with high heterogeneity requires further research exploring the psychosocial epidemiology during COVID-19, which may inform better mental health policymaking and practice in South Asia.
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.