ReviewJournal of Taibah University Medical Sciences2023
The mental health of healthcare workers in GCC countries during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Suicide and suicidal behavior in the gulf cooperation council countries: a Systematic Review of behavioral patterns, sociocultural determinants, and structural vulnerabilities.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- The prevalence of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic: an umbrella review.BMC public health · 2025Pooled 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
- Estimation of the prevalence of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic: A meta-analysis of meta-analyses.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- What are effective strategies to respond to the psychological impacts of working on the frontlines of a public health emergency?Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- Organisational and Team-Level Strategies to Enhance Work Engagement and Mitigate Burnout Among Nurse Case Managers: A Global Scoping Review with Implications for the Gulf Region.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2026Review
- Determinants of mental health distress among health workers in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Work Environment and Socio-Demographic Factors of Psychiatric Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study in Hospitals of Eastern Saudi Arabia.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Burnout syndrome among rheumatologists and rheumatology fellows in Arab countries: an ArLAR multinational study.Clinical rheumatology · 2024Article
- Emotional Responses of Hospital Staff to the DASS-21 Survey During Mass COVID-19 Testing After the Relaxation of Prevention and Control Measures in Zhejiang, China, and Their Change Trajectory.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2024Article
- Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Self-Medication Including Antibiotics among Health Care Professionals during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Pakistan: Findings and Implications.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Mental Health Issues among Physicians in Saudi Arabia: A Scoping Review.Saudi journal of medicine & medical sciencesReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: The aim of this study was to summarize the available evidence on the prevalence of stress, burnout, anxiety and depression among healthcare providers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (KSA, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Google scholar for related studies published between January 2020 and April 2021 and conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. Results: Of the 1815 identified studies, 29 met the inclusion criteria, and 19 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled estimate of prevalence for moderate to severe anxiety as reported using GAD-7 was 34.57% (95% CI = 19.73%, 51.12%), that for moderate to severe depression using PHQ-9 was 53.12% (95% CI = 32.76%, 72.96%), and that for moderate to severe stress using the 10-item Perceived Stress Scales was 81.12% (95% CI = 72.15%, 88.70%). Meta-analysis was not performed for burnout due to the small number of identified studies and the different tools used; however, the highest prevalence was reported at 76% (95% CI = 64%, 85%). Overall, a positive trend was observed over time for moderate to severe anxiety and depression, p = 0.0059 and 0.0762, respectively. Of note, the heterogeneity was significant among the studies, and many studies were of poor quality. Conclusion: The prevalence of mental health disorders during the current pandemic among healthcare workers in GCC countries is high. However, the results could be affected by the high heterogeneity and low quality studies.
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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.