Global Prevalence of Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Children and Adolescents During COVID-19
Nicole Racine, Brae Anne McArthur, Jessica E. Cooke, Rachel Eirich, Jenney Zhu, Sheri Madigan
JAMA Pediatrics
Abstract
Importance: Emerging research suggests that the global prevalence of child and adolescent mental illness has increased considerably during COVID-19. However, substantial variability in prevalence rates have been reported across the literature. Objective: To ascertain more precise estimates of the global prevalence of child and adolescent clinically elevated depression and anxiety symptoms during COVID-19; to compare these rates with prepandemic estimates; and to examine whether demographic (eg, age, sex), geographical (ie, global region), or methodological (eg, pandemic data collection time point, informant of mental illness, study quality) factors explained variation in prevalence rates across studies. Data Sources: Four databases were searched (PsycInfo, Embase, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Cen