Impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of children and young people: an umbrella review.

作者信息

Bevilacqua Leonardo, Fox-Smith Lana, Lewins Amy, Jetha Poonam, Sideri Athena, Barton Gil, Meiser-Stedman Richard, Beazley Peter

机构信息

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, UCL, London, UK.

出版信息

J Epidemiol Community Health. 2023 Nov;77(11):704-709. doi: 10.1136/jech-2022-220259. Epub 2023 Aug 24.

DOI:10.1136/jech-2022-220259

PMID:37620009

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.