Table 2.
Characteristics of included studies in the meta-analysis.
| Author (Publication year) | Country | Mean age (SD) | % Females (n) | Sample size (n) | Response rate (%) | Sampling method | Anxiety assessment | Anxiety Diagnostic Criteria | Prevalence of anxiety |
Quality assessment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | n | ||||||||||
| Ahmed et al. (2020a) | China | 33.54 (11.13) | 46.8% (503) | 1074 | Not reported | Convenience sampling | BAI | 8–15: mild; 16–25: moderate; 26–63: severe anxiety | 29.05% | 312 | 7 |
| Alkhamees et al. (2020) | Saudi Arabia | Not reported | 63.9% (741) | 1160 | Not reported | Convenience sampling | DASS-21 | 10–14: moderate; 15–19: severe; 20–42: extremely severe anxiety | 24.05% | 279 | 7 |
| Arafa et al. (2020) | Egypt | Not reported | 57.6% (939) | 1629 | 95.8% | Snowball sampling | DASS-21 | >8: mild-moderate; >16: severe and extremely severe anxiety | 53.50% | 872 | 7 |
| Ayhan Başer et al. (2020) | Turkey | 39.85 (11.95) | 64.5% (690) | 1070 | 98.0% | Convenience sampling | BAI | 8–15: mild; 16–25: moderate; 26–63: severe anxiety | 21.31% | 228 | 7 |
| Al Banna et al. (2020) | Bangladesh | 25.75 (6.75) | 28.5% (407) | 1427 | Not reported | Snowball sampling | DASS-21 | Not reported | 33.70% | 481 | 7 |
| Bäuerle et al. (2020) | Germany | Not reported | 70.7% (10633) | 15,037 | 83.1% | Not reported | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 16.77% | 2522 | 8 |
| Choi et al. (2020) | China | 47.26 (15.82) | 54.8% (274) | 500 | 64.60% | Random sampling | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 14.00% | 70 | 9 |
| Cortés-Álvarez et al. (2020) | Mexico | Not reported | 62.1% (686) | 1105 | 99.6% | Snowball sampling | DASS-21 | ≥10 moderate-severe anxiety | 22.60% | 250 | 7 |
| Elhai et al. (2020) | China | 43.37 (9.3) | 82.8% (752) | 908 | Not reported | Convenience sampling | DASS-21 | >5: moderate; >7: severe anxiety | 30.95% | 281 | 6 |
| Fernández et al. (2020) | Argentina | Not reported | 78.4% (3456) | 4408 | Not reported | Not reported | BSI-53 | ≥63 presence severe anxiety | 31.76% | 1400 | 7 |
| Forte et al. (2020) | Italy | 30.00 (11.5) | 74.6% (1708) | 2291 | 98.24% | Convenience sampling | STAI-S | >55: presence of anxiety | 37.19% | 852 | 8 |
| Fu et al. (2020) | China | Not reported | 69.7% (866) | 1242 | Not reported | Convenience sampling | GAD-7 | ≥5: presence of anxiety | 27.38% | 340 | 6 |
| Fullana et al. (2020) | Spain | 47 (NR) | 73% (NR) | 4399 | 79.3% | Not reported | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 15.00% | 660 | 5 |
| Galindo-Vázquez et al. (2020) | Mexico | 34.46 (NR) | 74.5% (1123) | 1508 | Not reported | Convenience sampling | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 48.41% | 730 | 7 |
| Gao et al. (2020) | China | 32.2 (10.0) | 67.7% (3267) | 4872 | 83.27% | Convenience sampling | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 22.60% | 1101 | 8 |
| Guo et al. (2020) | China | 34.4 (11.1) | 56.1% (1307) | 2331 | 95.5% | Snowball sampling | HADS-A | ≥8: presence of anxiety | 25.40% | 592 | 8 |
| Horesh et al. (2020) | Israel | 45.86 (19.6) | 71.1% (145) | 204 | Not reported | Snowball sampling | BAI | Not reported | 16.18% | 33 | 6 |
| Huang and Zhao (2020) | China | 35.3 (5.6) | 54.6% (3952) | 7236 | 85.30% | Convenience sampling | GAD-7 | ≥9: presence of anxiety | 35.10% | 2540 | 8 |
| Huarcaya-Victoria et al. (2020) | Peru | 38.37 (12.75) | 65.6% (546) | 832 | 99.3% | Convenience sampling | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 13.10% | 109 | 8 |
| Hyland et al. (2020) | Ireland | 44.97 (15.8) | 51.5% (536) | 1041 | Not reported | Quota sampling | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 19.98% | 208 | 7 |
| Islam et al. (2020) | Bangladesh | 23.54 (5.0) | 39.6% (519) | 1311 | 97.4% | Not reported | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 37.30% | 489 | 7 |
| Kazmi et al. (2020) | India | Not reported | 62% (620) | 1000 | 66.66% | Random sampling | DASS-21 | Not reported | 43.00% | 430 | 8 |
| Lei et al. (2020) | China | 32.3 (9.8) | 61.3% (976) | 1593 | 80.17% | Convenience sampling | SAS | 50–59: low; 60–69: moderate; ≥70: severe anxiety | 8.35% | 133 | 8 |
| Liu et al. (2020) | China | Not reported | 58.7% (357) | 569 | 98.06% | Snowball sampling | STAI-S | Not reported | 15.80% | 90 | 8 |
| Moghanibashi-Mansourieh (2020) | Iran | Not reported | 65.8% (7073) | 10,754 | 90% | Convenience sampling | DASS-21 | Not reported | 50.88% | 5472 | 8 |
| Newby et al. (2020) | Australia | Not reported | 85.8% (4348) | 5049 | 84.6% | Not reported | DASS-21 | Not reported | 49.57% | 2503 | 8 |
| Orellana and Orellana (2020) | El Salvador | 31.1 (11.8) | 61.9% (210) | 339 | 98.8% | Snowball sampling | DASS-21 | Not reported | 26.84% | 91 | 7 |
| Ozamiz-Etxebarria et al. (2020) | Spain | 33.8 (16.6) | 79.5% (1584) | 1985 | 90.2% | Snowball sampling | DASS-21 | Not reported | 26.90% | 534 | 7 |
| Özdin and Bayrak Özdin (2020) | Turkey | 37.16 (10.3) | 49.3% (169) | 343 | Not reported | Not reported | HADS | Not reported | 45.19% | 155 | 7 |
| Palgi et al. (2020) | Israel | 46.21 (16.5) | 75.2% (798) | 1059 | Not reported | Snowball sampling | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 18.98% | 201 | 7 |
| Papandreou et al. (2020) | Greece | 42.4 (11.7) | 66.7% (560) | 839 | Not reported | Convenience sampling | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 13.23% | 111 | 7 |
| Spain | 46.1 (13.3) | 70.3% (704) | 1002 | Not reported | Not reported | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 12.28% | 123 | 7 | |
| Paulino et al. (2020) | Portugal | 31.2 (9.7) | 83.4% (8834) | 10,529 | 95.6% | Not reported | DASS-21 | 10–14: moderate; 15–19: severe; 20–42: extremely severe anxiety | 16.96% | 1786 | 8 |
| Pieh et al. (2020) | Austria | Not reported | 52.2% (530) | 1009 | Not reported | Not reported | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 19.13% | 193 | 7 |
| Rettie and Daniels (2020) | United Kingdom | 38.06 (14.7) | 79.9% (673) | 842 | 86.4% | Snowball sampling | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 24.30% | 205 | 8 |
| Rodríguez-Rey et al. (2020) | Spain | 32.15 (12.9) | 71.5% (NR) | 3055 | Not reported | Snowball sampling | DASS-21 | 10–14: moderate; 15–19: severe; 20–42: extremely severe anxiety | 25.37% | 775 | 7 |
| Shevlin et al. (2020) | United Kingdom | 45.45 (15.9) | 51.7% (1047) | 2025 | Not reported | Quote sampling | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 21.63% | 438 | 6 |
| Shi et al. (2020) | China | 35.97 (8.2) | 52.1% (29530) | 56,679 | 79.9% | Convenience sampling | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 10.36% | 5871 | 8 |
| Solomou and Constantinidou (2020) | Cyprus | Not reported | 71.6% (1176) | 1642 | 99.4% | Mixed random and snowball sampling | GAD-7 | ≥10: presence of anxiety | 23.14% | 380 | 8 |
| Stanton et al. (2020) | Australia | 50.5 (14.9) | 67.0% (999) | 1491 | Not reported | Convenience sampling | DASS-21 | 4–5: mild; 6–7: moderate; 8–9: severe; ≥10: extremely severe anxiety | 21.19% | 316 | 7 |
| Verma and Mishra (2020) | India | Not reported | 48.3% (171) | 354 | 93.9% | Convenience sampling | DASS-21 | 10–14: moderate; 15–19: severe; 20–42: extremely severe anxiety | 28.00% | 99 | 7 |
| Wang et al. (2020a) | China | Not reported | 67.3% (814) | 1210 | 92.79% | Snowball sampling | DASS-21 | 7–9: mild; 10–14: moderate; 15–19: severe; ≥20: extremely severe anxiety | 36.36% | 440 | 8 |
| Wang et al. (2020b) | China | 34 (12) | 55.5% (333) | 600 | 99.17% | Not reported | SAS | 50–59: low; 60–69: moderate; ≥70: severe anxiety | 6.33% | 38 | 8 |
| Zhao et al. (2020) | China | Not reported | 64.1% (1284) | 2003 | Not reported | Not reported | BAI | 10–18: mild to moderate; 19–29: moderate to severe; 30–63: severe anxiety | 9.39% | 188 | 7 |
Abbreviations: BAI: Beck Anxiety Inventory; DASS: Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale; GAD: Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale; HADS: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; SAS: Self-rating Anxiety Scale; STAI-S: State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, State subscale