A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Symptoms of Anxiety, Depression, and Insomnia in Spain in the COVID-19 Crisis

Stephen X. Zhang, Richard Z. Chen, Wen Xu, Allen Yin, Rebecca Kechen Dong, Bryan Z. Chen, Andrew Yilong Delios, Saylor Miller, Roger S. McIntyre, Wenping Ye, Xue Wan

    Research output: Journal PublicationReview articlepeer-review

    46 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Background: General population, frontline healthcare workers (HCWs), and adult students in Spain are at risk of anxiety, depression, and insomnia symptoms during the COVID-19 crisis. A meta-analysis of the individual studies on these symptoms would provide systematic evidence to aid policymakers and researchers in focusing on prevalence, risk, and best interventions. Objective: This paper aims to be the first meta-analysis and systematic review to calculate the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and insomnia symptoms in Spain’s adult population (general population, frontline healthcare workers (HCWs), and adult students) during the Covid-19 epidemic. Method: Random-effect meta-analysis was used to estimate the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Results: The meta-analysis includes 28 studies with 38 individual samples in Spain. The pooled prevalence of anxiety symptoms in 22 studies comprising a sample population of 82,024 was 20% (95% CI: 15–25%), that of depression symptoms in 22 articles with a total sample comprising 82,890 individuals was 22% (95% CI: 18–28%), and that of insomnia symptoms in three articles with a sample population of 745 was 57% (95% CI: 48–66%. Conclusions: The accumulative evidence reveals that adults in Spain suffered higher prevalence rates of mental symptoms during the COVID-19 crisis, with a significantly higher rate relative to other countries such as China. Our synthesis also reveals a relative lack of studies on frontline and general HCWs in Spain.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number1018
    JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
    Volume19
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2022

    Keywords

    • Anxiety
    • Depression
    • Frontline healthcare workers
    • General population
    • Meta-analysis

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Pollution
    • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
    • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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