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. 2023 Mar 8;14:1107560. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1107560

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Copyright © 2023 Bower, Smout, Donohoe-Bales, O’Dean, Teesson, Boyle, Lim, Nguyen, Calear, Batterham, Gournay and Teesson.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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PRISMA diagram. PRISMA flow diagram outlining the progression of the 5-phase systematic search undertaken to retrieve articles examining the impact of COVID-19 on mental health outcomes. Phase 1: The initial search across four databases (Scopus, Embase, PsycINFO, MEDLINE) yielded 6,029 records, of which 1,888 articles were identified as duplicates, and removed before screening commenced. Phase 2: The titles and abstracts of 4,141 records were screened for relevance, which led to 3,361 records being excluded. Phase 3: Subsequently, 780 articles underwent full-text screening, with 442 records removed prior to quality appraisal. Phase 4: Of the 338 reviews assessed for quality using the AMSTAR-2 critical appraisal tool, 313 records were excluded from the narrative synthesis, and 255 records were excluded from the meta-review. Phase 5: Twenty-five records were included in the narrative synthesis, comprising 14 systematic reviews, 8 combined systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and 3 meta-analyses. There were 84 records included in the meta-review consisting of 67 combined systematic reviews and meta-analyses and 16 meta-analyses. n, number of records; SR, systematic review; MA, meta-analysis; SR + MA, systematic review and meta-analysis; AMSTAR-2, Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews Revised; PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.