Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39060517›Full record

ArticleEuropean child & adolescent psychiatry2025

Life changes and symptoms of depression and anxiety among Chinese children and adolescents before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: a combination of cross-sectional, longitudinal, and clustering studies.

Yu Zeng, Jie Song, Yanan Zhang, Xinyu Guo, Xinmao Xu, Linlin Fan, Li Zhao, Huan Song, Lihua Jiang

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in European child & adolescent psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Yu Zeng *Mental Health Center and West China Biomedical Big Data Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Jie Song *Mental Health Center and West China Biomedical Big Data Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7357-2136
Yanan ZhangMental Health Center and West China Biomedical Big Data Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Xinyu GuoDepartment of Health Policy and Management, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Xinmao XuDepartment of Health Policy and Management, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Linlin FanDepartment of Health Policy and Management, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Li ZhaoDepartment of Health Policy and Management, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Huan SongMental Health Center and West China Biomedical Big Data Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Lihua JiangTeaching & Research Section of General Practice, The General Practice Medical Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. lhjiang@scu.edu.cn.

Funding

Hong Kong Polytechnic University 19H0642Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province 2020JDKP0021
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The measures to prevent COVID-19 pandemic had caused significant life changes, which may have caused stress on the mental health of children and adolescents. We aimed to evaluate the short- and long-term effects of life changes on children's mental health in a large Chinese cohort. Survey-based life changes during COVID-19 lockdown were measured among 7,829 Chinese students at Grade 1-9, including social contacts, lifestyles and family financial status. Clustering analysis was applied to identify potential patterns of these changes. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders. Logistic regression models were used to investigate the associations between these changes, their patterns and the presence of depression/anxiety symptoms using both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. We found that the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms decreased during pandemic (34.6-32.6%). However, during and shortly after lockdown, students who reported negative impacts on their study, social and outside activities, and diet had increased risks of depressive/anxiety symptoms. Decreased electronic time and sugar-sweetened consumption, as well as family income decline and unemployment, were also associated with higher risks of these symptoms. Additionally, students with changed sleep time had increased depressive symptoms. These associations attenuated or disappeared one year later. Similar patterns were observed in clustering analysis, while only the group with severe impact on family financial status showed a sustained increase in depression symptoms. In summary, restrictive measures that changed children and adolescents' daily life during COVID-19 lockdown showed negative effects on their mental health, with some commonalities and distinctions patterns in the manifestation of depression and anxiety symptoms.

Indexed as

AnxietyCOVID-19DepressionLife Change EventsAdolescentChildChinaCluster AnalysisCross-Sectional StudiesEast Asian PeopleFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleQuarantineSARS-CoV-2AnxietyChildhood and adolescenceCOVID-19DepressionLongitudinal studies

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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.