ArticleBMJ open2022
Prevalence of depression in China during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study in an online survey sample.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Persistent socio-demographic inequalities in depression among older adults in China during and after COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- An umbrella review of the prevalence of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic: Call to action for post-COVID-19 at the global level.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Fear of COVID-19, stress and depression: A meta-analytic test of the mediating role of anxiety.Psychology and psychotherapy · 2022Pooled it
- Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and depressive symptoms among college students in northeastern China: The mediating role of mobile phone use addiction.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Cyclodextrin-Based Drug Delivery Systems for Depression: Improving Antidepressant Bioavailability and Targeted Central Nervous System Delivery.Pharmaceutics · 2025Review
- Depressive symptomatology in Brazil: perspectives of statistical and psychometrics analyses of the PHQ-9 at four time-points (2020-2023) in the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The level and factors associated with caregiver experience among parents of children with cerebral palsy: a cross-sectional study in Southwest China.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- A network analysis of the interrelationships between depression, anxiety, insomnia and quality of life among fire service recruits.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Fading SARS-CoV-2 humoral VOC cross-reactivity and sustained cellular immunity in convalescent children and adolescents.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWe aimed to determine (1) the prevalence of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic among Chinese adults and (2) how depression prevalence varied by province and sociodemographic characteristics.
designCross-sectional study.
settingNational online survey in China.
participantsWe conducted a cross-sectional online survey among adults registered with the survey company KuRunData from 8 May 2020 to 8 June 2020. We aimed to recruit 300-360 adults per province (n=14 493), with a similar distribution by sex and rural-urban residency as the general population within each of these provinces. PRIMARY OUTCOME: Participants completed the Patient Health Questionaire-9 (PHQ-9). We calculated the prevalence of depression (defined as a PHQ-9 score ≥10) nationally and separately for each province. ANALYSIS: Covariate-unadjusted and covariate-adjusted logistic regression models were used to examine how the prevalence of depression varied by adults' sociodemographic characteristics. All analyses used survey sampling weights.
resultsThe survey was initiated by 14 493 participants, with 10 000 completing all survey questions and included in the analysis. The prevalence of depression in the national sample was 6.3% (95% CI 5.7% to 6.8%). A higher odds of depression was associated with living in an urban area (OR 1.50; 95% CI 1.18 to 1.90) and working as a nurse (OR 3.06; 95% CI 1.41 to 6.66). A lower odds of depression was associated with participants who had accurate knowledge of COVID-19 transmission prevention actions (OR 0.71; 95% CI 0.51 to 0.98), the knowledge that saliva is a main transmission route (OR 0.80; 95% CI 0.64 to 0.99) and awareness of COVID-19 symptoms (OR, 0.82; 95% CI 0.68 to 1.00).
conclusionAround one in 20 adults in our online survey sample had a PHQ-9 score suggestive of depression. Interventions and policies to prevent and treat depression during the COVID-19 pandemic in China may be particularly needed for nurses and those living in urban areas.
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