SynthesisHarvard review of psychiatry
The Long-Term Mental Health Impact of Disasters: A Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Epidemiological Studies.
Synthesis in Harvard review of psychiatry. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Exposing the loci of bias: a taxonomical exploration of sources of bias in population mental health research.Population health metrics · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Scientific research on the mental health effects of disasters has primarily focused on short-term consequences. This review aims to provide a long-term perspective, examining multiple contributing factors simultaneously. We registered this review (PROSPERO 2020, CRD42020108528), and searched Medline, PsycInfo, PTSDpubs, Web of Science, and SocINDEX from inception to July 2024. After screening 33,205 titles and abstracts, we extracted epidemiological longitudinal data from 71 studies, with up to six waves and a total of 137,004 participants. Disaster type (natural/human-made), category (e.g., earthquakes, floods, terrorist attacks), mental health outcome (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety), population type (children/adolescents, adults), disaster year, measurement month, study quality, and country income were included in a multilevel meta-analysis. Pooled average prevalence of current or recent mental health problems was 22.1% (95% CI [10.95-39.57]). When controlling for the other factors, prevalence did not differ by disaster type, category, mental health outcome, population type, year, study quality, or country income. Despite high heterogeneity, the mental health burden in exposed populations decreased from month 1 to 300 after an initial peak in the first months, followed by a second peak after approximately a decade, before declining again ( p <0.001). Mental health burdens post-disaster may be more universally distributed than previously believed. Earlier studies identifying gradual post-disaster recovery may have underestimated the long-term effects. The analysis revealed a shortage of high-quality studies with measurements beyond four years. The topic requires further investigation with consistently repeated measurements at standard intervals to confirm the presence and early predictors of both larger and smaller peaks.
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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.