Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34507228›Full record

ArticleJournal of affective disorders2021

An examination of racial and ethnic disparities in mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S. South.

Emily Goldmann, Daniel Hagen, Estelle El Khoury, Mark Owens, Supriya Misra, Johannes Thrul

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of affective disorders, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
35citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
7.4field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

35 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Mental Health Access in the United States.: A Cross-Ethnic Comparative Study.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026
    Article
  4. State-level analysis of mental health disparities between White, Black, and Hispanic populations before and after COVID-19.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
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  9. Article
  10. Experiences of Minority Frontline Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2024
    Article
  11. Article
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  15. Trends in Mental Wellbeing of US Children, 2019-2022: Erosion of Mental Health Continued in 2022.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Emily GoldmannDepartment of Epidemiology, New York University School of Global Public Health, 708 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10003, USA. Electronic address: esg236@nyu.edu.
Daniel HagenDepartment of Epidemiology, New York University School of Global Public Health, 708 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10003, USA.
Estelle El KhouryDepartment of Epidemiology, New York University School of Global Public Health, 708 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10003, USA.
Mark OwensDepartment of Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX, USA.
Supriya MisraDepartment of Public Health, College of Health and Social Sciences, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Johannes ThrulDepartment of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD, USA; Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
New York University · USJohns Hopkins University · USSan Francisco State University · USThe University of Texas at Tyler · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe mental health of racial/ethnic minority groups in the United States may be disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic due to greater experience of peri-pandemic stressors. Yet, few studies have systematically examined racial/ethnic differences in mental health outcomes in this context.

methodsData came from the COVID-19 Southern Cities Study, a probability-based, cross-sectional study conducted in May/June 2020 among adults living in the metropolitan statistical areas of Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston, and New Orleans. Unadjusted and adjusted associations between racial/ethnic identity and past-week depression and/or anxiety symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-2 score ≥ 3 or Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 score ≥ 3), trouble sleeping, physical reactions when thinking about COVID-19, and self-rated worsened mental health due to the pandemic were estimated in separate logistic regression models.

resultsOver 30% of respondents reported depression and/or anxiety symptoms, 21% reported physical reactions, 25% had trouble sleeping, and 33% worsened mental health since the pandemic began. Adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics and pandemic-related stressors, odds of anxiety symptoms (odds ratio (OR) 0.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.30-0.95) and worsened mental health (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.36-0.94) were lower among non-Hispanic Black vs. non-Hispanic white respondents. LIMITATIONS: No diagnostic assessments were used, and results may not be generalizable to later phases of the pandemic and the entire U.S. South.

conclusionsDespite greater pandemic-related stressor experience, poor mental health outcomes were not more common among racial/ethnic minority individuals. However, interventions to reduce disparities in stressor experience and promote mental health are needed.

Indexed as

COVID-19PandemicsAdultCross-Sectional StudiesEthnicityHumansMental HealthMinority GroupsSARS-CoV-2United StatesCOVID-19EthnicityMental health, RaceStressors

Identifiers

PMID34507228
PMCPMC8424176
OpenAlexW3198540643

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.