ReviewFrontiers in psychiatry2023
A hidden pandemic? An umbrella review of global evidence on mental health in the time of COVID-19.
Review in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
51 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
- Was the COVID-19 Pandemic a Triggering Factor for PTSD in Adults? Results From A Systematic Review.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2025Pooled it
- Evolution of psychiatry- and addiction-related visits in an emergency department before and during the first COVID-19 lockdown: a retrospective study.Neuropsychiatrie : Klinik, Diagnostik, Therapie und Rehabilitation : Organ der Gesellschaft Osterreichischer Nervenarzte und Psychiater · 2026Article
- Monthly changes in well-being among Danish employees from 2018 to 2022. Was there an influence of the COVID-19 pandemic?Scandinavian journal of public health · 2026Article
- Mental Health Service Preparedness during a Pandemic: A Delphi Study in Slovenia.Zdravstveno varstvo · 2026Article
- Rising trend among young adults: analysis of suicide-related deaths in Türkiye 2007-2022.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Frailty and subsequent decline in self-rated health among older adults in Southern Switzerland: 13-month cohort study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Self-reported changes in adolescent mental health, deliberate self-harm, substance use, and help-seeking behavior before and after the COVID-19 pandemic - A Finnish time-trend study.Child and adolescent mental health · 2026Article
- Prevalence and Correlates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: Prévalence et corrélats des symptômes du trouble de stress post-traumatique pendant la pandémie de COVID-19 au Canada : Revue systématique et méta-analyse.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2026Review
- The Descriptive Epidemiology of Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder in Australia 2020-22: Prevalence, Correlates, Age of Onset and Changes Over Time.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
- Lockdown COVID‑19: a stress test revealing more about the mental health system than psychopathology-A comparative analysis between Austria, Germany, and Italy.Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- Trajectories of spiritual well-being across the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.The American journal of orthopsychiatry · 2026Article
- Mental health during and after the COVID-19 pandemic - a longitudinal study over 42 months in five European countries.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- An Umbrella Review of Quality of Life Among the General Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Evaluation of the biopsychosocial model of health among emerging adults.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Perspective: Food Environment, Climate Change, Inflammation, Diet, and Health.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Review
- Policy implications of the 2020-22 Australian study of mental health and wellbeing.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Co-occurring mental and substance use disorders in Australia 2020-2022: Prevalence, patterns, conditional probabilities and correlates in the general population.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Loneliness and Distress in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study of German University Students.Clinical psychology in Europe · 2025Article
- A mixed methods study of wellbeing and resilience of undergraduate nursing students: implications for the post-pandemic era.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- The complete mental health of Australia's adolescents and emerging adults: distress and wellbeing across 3 nationally representative community samples.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: The mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic remain a public health concern. High quality synthesis of extensive global literature is needed to quantify this impact and identify factors associated with adverse outcomes. Methods: We conducted a rigorous umbrella review with meta-review and present (a) pooled prevalence of probable depression, anxiety, stress, psychological distress, and post-traumatic stress, (b) standardised mean difference in probable depression and anxiety pre-versus-during the pandemic period, and (c) comprehensive narrative synthesis of factors associated with poorer outcomes. Databases searched included Scopus, Embase, PsycINFO, and MEDLINE dated to March 2022. Eligibility criteria included systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses, published post-November 2019, reporting data in English on mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: Three hundred and thirty-eight systematic reviews were included, 158 of which incorporated meta-analyses. Meta-review prevalence of anxiety symptoms ranged from 24.4% (95%CI: 18-31%, Conclusion: This is the first meta-review to synthesise the longitudinal mental health impacts of the pandemic. Findings show that probable depression and anxiety were significantly higher than pre-COVID-19, and provide some evidence that that adolescents, pregnant and postpartum people, and those hospitalised with COVID-19 experienced heightened adverse mental health. Policymakers can modify future pandemic responses accordingly to mitigate the impact of such measures on public mental health.
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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.