ReviewInternational journal of environmental research and public health2023
Unintended Consequences of COVID-19 Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) for Population Health and Health Inequalities.
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 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Reassessing Early COVID-19 Strategies in East Asia: Insights From Japan and Korea.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2026Review
- Epidemic trends and characteristics of notifiable infectious diseases in mainland China during the COVID-19: a nationwide surveillance study, 2020-2024.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- Exploring Physical Activity Among Mexican American Immigrants in New York City Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Two-Wave Panel, Mixed-Method Analysis.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Analysis of influenza surveillance results in Sichuan Province in China, 2023-2025.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Operating in recurrent crises: a qualitative study of decision-making and unintended consequences in a peripheral hospital.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Impact of COVID-19 after lung transplantation: A retrospective multicenter comparison of clinical outcomes in Denmark and Sweden.JHLT open · 2025Article
- Changes inMicrobiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Post-Covid-19 Symptoms in Children: A Cross-Sectional Survey.Journal of paediatrics and child health · 2025Article
- WHO'Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- What Lessons can Be Learned From the Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic?International journal of public health · 2025Review
- Response: "Letter to the Editor: Lessons to Be Learned From the COVID-19 Pandemic: Some Further Ideas".International journal of public health · 2025Article
- Respiratory pathogen dynamics in community fever cases: Jiangsu Province, China (2023-2024).Virology journal · 2024Article
- Development of an overarching framework for anticipating and assessing adverse and other unintended consequences of public health interventions (CONSEQUENT): a best-fit framework synthesis.BMJ public health · 2024Article
- Positive and negative factors of parents vaccinating their children against COVID-19: An umbrella review.Preventive medicine reports · 2024Review
- Is SARS-CoV-2 elimination or mitigation best? Regional and disease characteristics determine the recommended strategy.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Evaluation of disease severity and prediction of severe cases in children hospitalized with influenza A (H1N1) infection during the post-COVID-19 era: a multicenter retrospective study.BMC pediatrics · 2024Article
- Assessing the Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions on Consumer Mobility Patterns and COVID-19 Transmission in the US.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Influence of Seasonality and Public-Health Interventions on the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northern Europe.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Effects of COVID-19-targeted non-pharmaceutical interventions on pediatric emergency department use: a quasi-experimental study interrupted time-series analysis in North Italian hospitals, 2017 to 2022.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, governments around the world have adopted an array of measures intended to control the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, using both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). NPIs are public health interventions that do not rely on vaccines or medicines and include policies such as lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, school closures, and travel restrictions. Although the intention was to slow viral transmission, emerging research indicates that these NPIs have also had unintended consequences for other aspects of public health. Hence, we conducted a narrative review of studies investigating these unintended consequences of NPIs, with a particular emphasis on mental health and on lifestyle risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCD): physical activity (PA), overweight and obesity, alcohol consumption, and tobacco smoking. We reviewed the scientific literature using combinations of search terms such as 'COVID-19', 'pandemic', 'lockdowns', 'mental health', 'physical activity', and 'obesity'. NPIs were found to have considerable adverse consequences for mental health, physical activity, and overweight and obesity. The impacts on alcohol and tobacco consumption varied greatly within and between studies. The variability in consequences for different groups implies increased health inequalities by age, sex/gender, socioeconomic status, pre-existing lifestyle, and place of residence. In conclusion, a proper assessment of the use of NPIs in attempts to control the spread of the pandemic should be weighed against the potential adverse impacts on other aspects of public health. Our findings should also be of relevance for future pandemic preparedness and pandemic response teams.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.