Abstract
Background Over the past 3 years, a multitude of studies have highlighted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of children and young people (CYP). In this umbrella review, we synthesise global evidence on the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of CYP from existing systematic reviews with and/or without meta-analysis.
Methods: Adopting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, we evaluated 349 citations and identified 24 eligible reviews with medium to high methodological quality to be reviewed narratively.
Results: Most of the reviews reported a high prevalence of anxiety disorders, depression, suicidal behaviour, eating disorders and other mental health problems. Most studies that used data at multiple time points indicate a significant increase in mental health problems in CYP, particularly in females and older adolescents.
Conclusions: Multipronged psychosocial care services, policies and programmes are needed to alleviate the burden of mental health problems in CYP as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated global health measures.
PROSPERO registration number: CRD42021276312.
Methods: Adopting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, we evaluated 349 citations and identified 24 eligible reviews with medium to high methodological quality to be reviewed narratively.
Results: Most of the reviews reported a high prevalence of anxiety disorders, depression, suicidal behaviour, eating disorders and other mental health problems. Most studies that used data at multiple time points indicate a significant increase in mental health problems in CYP, particularly in females and older adolescents.
Conclusions: Multipronged psychosocial care services, policies and programmes are needed to alleviate the burden of mental health problems in CYP as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated global health measures.
PROSPERO registration number: CRD42021276312.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 704-709 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health |
| Volume | 77 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| Early online date | 24 Aug 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2023 |
Keywords
- ADOLESCENT
- CHILD HEALTH
- COVID-19
- MENTAL HEALTH
