ReviewInternational journal of environmental research and public health2023
The Mental Health Costs of Armed Conflicts-A Review of Systematic Reviews Conducted on Refugees, Asylum-Seekers and People Living in War Zones.
Review in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers, 3 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
72 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder among children and adolescents affected by armed conflict in East Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Pooled it
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Prevalence of war-related posttraumatic stress disorder in adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Pooled it
- Mental health and psychosocial support during ongoing armed conflict: position paper of the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Differential contributions of PTSD symptom clusters and their associations with resilience in traumatized individuals with a refugee background.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Postpartum depression in women during war: from acute crisis to prolonged conflict.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- In the Shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Reflections on Cultural Safety and Clinical Care for Children and Adolescents in Quebec (Canada) in Polarized Times.Clinical child psychology and psychiatry · 2026Article
- Prevalence and Correlates of Significant Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Children in Ukraine.JAACAP open · 2026Article
- "When the safe place is not safe": therapists' perspectives on implementing TF-CBT during the war in Ukraine.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2026Article
- Prevalence of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder among international medical students from conflict zones versus non-conflict areas: a cross-sectional study.The Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association · 2026Article
- Validation of the Ukrainian Prolonged Grief Assessment for Children (PGA-C) in a Wartime Context.Research square · 2026Article
- Societal worries and mental disorders in the general population: insights from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study (NEMESIS).BMC public health · 2026Article
- Errors or Adaptations? A Critical Review of Predictive Processing in Psychiatry.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- Is mental health in Colombia a right or a privilege?Biomedica : revista del Instituto Nacional de Salud · 2026Review
- Geopsychiatry and the complex mental health challenges of conflict: a review examining local and distal psychiatric outcomes in a fractured world.Neuropsychiatrie : Klinik, Diagnostik, Therapie und Rehabilitation : Organ der Gesellschaft Osterreichischer Nervenarzte und Psychiater · 2026Review
- The impacts of peace and conflict resolution interventions on mental health and psychological well-being: a systematic review.Conflict and health · 2026Review
- Loneliness as a mediator between family separation and life satisfaction among Ukrainian refugee women in Germany.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Mental health of Ukrainian children and youth during the Russian-Ukrainian war: a scoping review.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Psychological Interventions Targeting Depressive Symptoms in Children and Adolescents Living in War or Conflict Affected Zones: A Scoping Review.Current psychiatry reports · 2026Article
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsArmed conflicts produce a wide series of distressing consequences, including death, all of which impact negatively on the lives of survivors. This paper focuses specifically on the mental health consequences of war on adults and child/adolescent refugees or those living in war zones through a review of all systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses published from 2005 up until the current time.
resultsFifteen systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses conducted in adult populations, and seven relating to children and adolescents, were selected for the purpose of this review. Prevalence rates of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were two- to three-fold higher amongst people exposed to armed conflict compared to those who had not been exposed, with women and children being the most vulnerable to the outcome of armed conflicts. A series of war-related, migratory and post-migratory stressors contribute to short- and long-term mental health issues in the internally displaced, asylum seekers and refugees.
conclusionIt should be a required social responsibility for all psychiatrists and psychiatric associations to commit to raising awareness amongst political decision-makers as to the mental health consequences caused by armed conflicts, as part of their duty of care for people experiencing the consequences of war.
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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.