Scientific evidence on mental health in key regions under the COVID-19 pandemic – meta-analytical evidence from Africa, Asia, China, Eastern Europe, Latin America, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Spain

Abstract

This systematic review aims to summarize the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and insomnia in the general adult population and healthcare workers (HCWs) in several key regions worldwide during the first year of the COVID pandemic. Several literature databases were systemically searched for meta-analyses published by 22 September 2021 on the prevalence rates of mental health symptoms worldwide. The prevalence rates of mental health symptoms were summarized based on 388 empirical studies with a total of 1,067,021 participants from six regions and four countries. Comparatively, Africa and South Asia had the worse overall mental health symptoms, followed by Latin America. The research effort on mental health during COVID-19 has been highly skewed in terms of the scope of countries and mental health outcomes. The mental health symptoms are highly prevalent yet differ across regions, and such evidence helps to enable prioritization of mental health assistance efforts to allocate attention and resources based on the regional differences in mental health.