Global prevalence and burden of depression and anxiety disorders in 204 countries and territories in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Open Access Publication Date: October 8, 2021 DOI: https : //doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02143-7
Commentary
A systematic review of the prevalence of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders reported during the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted, and data from January 1, 2020 to January 29, 2021 are now available.
PubMed, Google Scholar, preprint servers, and gray literature sources were searched and experts were consulted.
Eligible studies were representative of the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic, had a pre-pandemic baseline, and reported the prevalence of depression or anxiety disorders.
Using the data collected in the meta-regression, we estimated using the COVID-19 impact index and the prevalence before the pandemic using this model, with changes estimated by age, gender, and location.
Final prevalence estimates and disability weights were used to estimate years of survival and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for persons with major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders.
The findings identified 5683 unique data sources, 48 of which met the selection criteria, and two COVID-19 impact indicators, specifically daily SARS-CoV-2 infection rates and reduced human mobility, were associated with an increased prevalence of major depressive disorder.
Women were more affected by the pandemic than men, and in the case of major depressive disorder, younger age groups were more affected than older groups.
We estimated that the places hardest hit by the pandemic in 2020, as measured by reduced human mobility and daily SARS-CoV-2 infection rates, had the highest increases in the prevalence of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders.
An additional 53.2 million (44.8 to 62.9) cases of major depressive disorder were estimated worldwide as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. (An increase of 27.6% [25.1 to 30.3])
The total prevalence rate was 3152.9 cases per 100,000 population (from 2722.5 to 3654.5), and an additional 76 million (from 64.3 to 90.6) cases of anxiety disorders were estimated worldwide (an increase of 25.6% [from 23.2 to 28.0]), for a total prevalence rate of 4802.5.
