Table 1.
Characteristics of included studies
| Study | Subjects and setting | Dates of the survey | Sampling method | Sample size | Male students, n (%) | Age (years) | Survey method | Assessment of depressive symptoms | Depressed students, n (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cao (2020) | Undergraduates of a junior college in Xi'an, China | NR | Convenience sampling | 2733 | 1684 (61.6) | Range: 16–24 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 575 (21.0) |
| Chang et al. (2020) | University students in Guangdong, China | 31 January–3 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 3881 | 1434 (36.9) | Mean: 20.0 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 821 (21.2) |
| Chen et al. (2020a) | Medical postgraduates of a general hospital in Hangzhou, China | February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 795 | 343 (43.1) | Mean: 26.6 | Paper−pencil self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 172 (21.6) |
| Chen et al. (2020b) | Undergraduates of 85 universities in Guangdong, China | 13–22 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 323 489 | 130 516 (40.3) | ⩽18: 29 510 (9.1) 19–20: 167 932 (51.9) 21–22: 104 800 (32.4) 23–24: 19 710 (6.1) ⩾25: 1537 (0.5) |
Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 10 | 24 909 (7.7) |
| Chen et al. (2020c) | Medical postgraduates of a general hospital in Hangzhou, China | 3–16 February 2020 | Cluster sampling | 286 | NR | NR | Paper−pencil self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 54 (18.9) |
| Chen et al. (2020d) | Undergraduates and postgraduates in Beijing, China | ‘post-epidemic of CPVID-19’ | Stratified random sampling | 697 | 183 (26.3) | Mean: 24.3 | Paper−pencil self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of SCL-90-R > 2 | 61 (8.8) |
| Chi et al. (2020) | University students in China | 12–17 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 2038 | 755 (37.0) | Mean: 20.6 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 10 | 475 (23.3) |
| Cong et al. (2020) | Oversea Chinese undergraduates and postgraduates | May 18–21, 2020 | Convenience sampling | 252 | 102 (40.5) | <18: 2 (0.8) 18–25: 160 (63.5) 26–30: 70 (27.8) >30: 20 (7.9) |
Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 152 (60.3) |
| Deng et al. (2020) | Undergraduates in China | 8–11 May 2020 | Convenience sampling | 1607 | 1041 (64.8) | <18: 20(1.2) 18–22: 1573 (97.9) >22: 14 (0.9) |
Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of DASS21 ⩾ 10 | 56 (3.5) |
| Dong et al. (2020) | Medical postgraduates of a general hospital in China | 20 January–20 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 162 | 52 (32.1) | Mean: 26.4 | Paper−pencil self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 63 (38.9) |
| Dong (2020) | Undergraduates of a university in Linfen, China | NR | Cluster sampling | 4085 | 923 (22.6) | Mean: 18.9 | Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of SCL-90-R > 2 | 554 (13.6) |
| Feng et al. (2020) | Students of a university in Beijing, China | 8–28 February 2020 | Simple cluster sampling | 1346 | 364 (27.0) | Mean: 19.8 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 429 (31.9) |
| Feng (2020) | Undergraduates of a junior college in Qingyuan, China | 18–22 February 2020 | Random sampling | 7157 | 2158 (30.2) | Median: 20.1 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 1956 (27.3) |
| Han et al. (2020) | Undergraduates and postgraduates in China | 22–24 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 405 | 134 (33.1) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of DASS21 ⩾ 10 | 178 (44.0) |
| Ji et al. (2020) | Nursing undergraduates of seven universities in Sichuan, China | 14–19 February 2020 | Cluster sampling | 1013 | 139 (13.7) | Mean: 20.0 | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾50 | 247 (24.4) |
| Jiang et al. (2020) | Medical undergraduates of a university in China | 27–29 February 2020 | Cluster sampling | 399 | 162 (40.6) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 104 (26.1) |
| Lei et al. (2020) | Medical undergraduates and postgraduates of a university in Tangshan, China | NR | Convenience sampling | 231 | 109 (47.2) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 143 (61.9) |
| Li and He (2020) | Students of a junior college in Jinhua, China | 30 January–15 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 1144 | 597 (52.2) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 240 (21.0) |
| Li et al. (2020b) | Undergraduates of a university in Chengdu, China | February–March 2020 | Cluster sampling | 7747 | 3947 (50.9) | Mean: 20.7 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 1278 (16.5) |
| Lian et al. (2020) | Undergraduates and postgraduates of a university in Changsha, China | NR | Random sampling | 1437 | 789 (54.9) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of SCL-90-R ⩾ 2 | 177 (12.3) |
| Liang et al. (2020a) | Nursing junior college students and nursing undergraduates of three universities in Hebei, China | February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 852 | 80 (9.4) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of SCL-90-R ⩾ 2 | 15 (1.8) |
| Liang et al. (2020b) | Medical postgraduates of a general hospital in Hangzhou, China | NR | Convenience sampling | 793 | 373 (47.0) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of SCL-90-R ⩾ 2 | 40 (5.0) |
| Lin et al. (2020a) | Undergraduates and postgraduates in China | 10–16 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 625 | 220 (35.2) | Mean: 20.2 | Online self-administered questionnaire | CES-D ⩾ 16 | 217 (34.7) |
| Lin et al. (2020b) | Students of a medical university in Fuzhou, China | 15–20 April 2020 | Random sampling | 320 | 149 (46.6) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 > 5 | 183 (57.2) |
| Lin and Xu (2020) | Undergraduates of universities in Fuzhou, China | 26–30 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 1297 | 565 (43.6) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 320 (24.7) |
| Liu et al. (2020a) | Undergraduates and postgraduates of a medical university in Wuhan, China | 23 February—2 April 2020 | Convenience sampling | 217 | 90 (41.5) | Mean: 21.7 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 77 (35.5) |
| Liu et al. (2020b) | Undergraduates of a medical university in Beijing, China | NR | Convenience sampling | 611 | 198 (32.4) | Range: 17–23 | Paper−pencil self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 101 (16.5) |
| Liu et al. (2020c) | Junior college students, undergraduates and postgraduates in China | 1–5 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 509 | 176 (34.6) | Mean: 21.3 | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 50 | 70 (13.8) |
| Liu (2020a) | Undergraduates of a university in Taiyuan, China | 20–22 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 191 | NR | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of SCL-90-R > 2 | 14 (7.3) |
| Liu (2020b) | Junior college students and undergraduates in Hangzhou, China | NR | Convenience sampling | 90 | 1 (1.1) | Range: 20–23 | Paper−pencil self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 29 (32.2) |
| Ma et al. (2020a) | Undergraduates of a university in Taiyuan, China | 10–15 February 2020 | Random cluster sampling | 516 | 271 (52.5) | Mean: 20.8 | Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of SCL-90-R ⩾ 2 | 138 (26.7) |
| Ma et al. (2020b) | Undergraduates and postgraduates of 108 universities in Guangdong and Jiangxi, China | 3–10 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 746 217 | 331 613 (44.4) | <18: 27 640 (3.7) 18–19: 252 616 (33.9) 20–21: 327 639 (43.9) 22–23: 120 142 (16.1) 24–25: 14 925 (2.0) ⩾26: 3255 (0.4) |
Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 7 | 157 452 (21.1) |
| Mao et al. (2020) | Medical postgraduates of a general hospital in Harbin, China | 31 March–10 May 2020 | Convenience sampling | 240 | 124 (51.7) | Mean: 24.3 | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 50 | 93 (38.8) |
| Qian (2020) | Students of a medical university in Fuzhou, China | 10 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 535 | 140 (26.2) | Median: 21.0 | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 50 | 137 (25.6) |
| Ren et al. (2020a) | Undergraduates of a university in Zhongshan, China | NR | Convenience sampling | 244 | 85 (34.8) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of DASS21 ⩾ 10 | 78 (32.0) |
| Ren et al. (2020b) | Students of two universities in Inner Mongolia, China | 21–28 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 4560 | 1227 (26.9) | Mean: 21.1 | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 3614 (79.3) |
| Ren et al. (2020c) | Nursing junior college students and nursing postgraduates of a general hospital in Shandong, China | 5–12 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 294 | 64 (21.8) | Mean: 21.6 | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 50 | 78 (26.5) |
| Si et al. (2020) | Undergraduates and postgraduates in seven provinces in China | 23 February–5 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 3606 | 1014 (28.1) | ⩽20: 1467 (40.7) 21–22: 1152 (32.0) ⩾23: 987 (27.4) |
Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of DASS21 ⩾ 10 | 566 (15.7) |
| Sun et al. (2020) | Undergraduates in a university in Hong Kong, China | 6 June 6–14 July 2020 | Convenience sampling | 255 | 33 (12.9) | Mean: 21.0 | Online self-administered questionnaire | CES-D-10 ⩾ 10 | 145 (56.9) |
| Tang et al. (2020) | Undergraduates of six universities in Chengdu and Chongqing, China | 20–27 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 2485 | 960 (38.6) | Mean: 19.8 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 10 | 223 (9.0) |
| Wan and Shao (2020) | Students of three junior colleges in Heilongjiang, China | NR | Convenience sampling | 2358 | 1183 (50.2) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 464 (19.7) |
| Wang and He (2020) | University students in Sichuan, Guizhou and Chongqing, China | Late February to middle March, 2020 | Convenience sampling | 1775 | NR (<50) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | ‘One SD above the mean’ on depression subscale of PQEEPH | 308 (17.4) |
| Wang and Li (2020) | Junior college students, undergraduates and postgraduates in Sichuan, Yunnan and Chongqing, China | February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 3178 | 878 (27.6) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 50 | 888 (27.9) |
| Wang et al. (2020b) | Students of a medical university in Xi'an, China | 13–16 February 2020 | Stratified equal proportion sampling | 430 | 139 (32.3) | Range: 18–25 | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾53 | 39 (9.1) |
| Wang et al. (2020c) | Postgraduates in China | 24 February—7 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 109 | 38 (34.9) | 20–25: 69.9 26–30: 31.5 31–40: 1.5 |
Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 22 (20.2) |
| Wang et al. (2020d) | Students of a university in Hubei, China | 9–14 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 2168 | 952 (43.9) | Mean: 20.8 | Online self-administered questionnaire | CES-D ⩾ 16 | 752 (34.7) |
| Wang et al. (2020e) | Junior college students, undergraduates and postgraduates of universities in Wuhan, China | 28 May–3 June 2020 | Convenience sampling | 3179 | 942 (29.6) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 1123 (35.3) |
| Wang et al. (2020f) | Undergraduates and postgraduates of four universities in Guangzhou, China | 31 January–5 February 2020 | Cluster sampling | 44 447 | 20 271 (45.6) | Mean: 21.0 | Online self-administered questionnaire | CES-D ⩾ 28 | 5404 (12.2) |
| Wei (2020) | Students of a junior college in Guangzhou, China | 13–18 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 6289 | NR | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 1310 (20.8) |
| Wu et al. (2020) | Undergraduates of a university in Shanghai, China | March 2020 | Random sampling | 807 | 413 (51.2) | NR | Paper−pencil self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of SCL-90-R ⩾ 2 | 216 (26.8) |
| Xiang et al. (2020) | Undergraduates and postgraduates in China | 25 February–25 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 1396 | 881 (63.1) | Mean: 20.7 | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS > 50 | 583 (41.8) |
| Xiao et al. (2020a) | Undergraduates and postgraduates of two medical universities in Beijing and Wuhan, China | 4–12 February 2020 | Cluster sampling | 933 (Beijing: 558; Wuhan: 375) | 279 (29.9) | 17–24: 755 (80.9) >25: 178 (19.1) |
Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 236 (25.3) Beijing: 131 (23.5) Wuhan: 105 (28.0) |
| Xiao et al. (2020b) | Undergraduates of two universities in Wuhan, China | 5–9 February 2020 | Stratified cluster sampling | 3966 | 1591 (40.1) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 1075 (27.1) |
| Xie et al. (2020) | Undergraduates of provinces other than Hubei in China | 4–7 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 2705 | 608 (22.5) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 493 (18.2) |
| Xin et al. (2020) | Undergraduates and postgraduates in China | 1–10 February 2020 | Stratified cluster sampling | 24 378 | 7865 (32.3) | Mean: 19.9 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 10 | 3619 (14.8) |
| Xing et al. (2020) | Medical undergraduates of two universities in Hangzhou, China | 5–7 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 595 | 174 (29.2) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 114 (19.2) |
| Xiong et al. (2020) | Undergraduates and postgraduates of a university in Guangzhou, China | 20 February–20 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 563 | 172 (30.6) | Mean: 21.5 | Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of DASS21 ⩾ 14 | 69 (12.3) |
| Xu and Li (2020) | Undergraduates of a university in Hubei, China | 18–31 May 2020 | Cluster sampling | 6891 | 2113 (30.7) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 1874 (27.2) |
| Yan et al. (2020) | Medical undergraduates in Putian, China | 23 January–23 February 2020 | Cluster sampling | 634 | 89 (14.0) | Mean: 19.3 | Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of HADS > 7 | 146 (23.0) |
| Yang et al. (2020b) | Undergraduates and postgraduates of Universities in Shaanxi, China | 7–9 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 1667 | 803 (48.2) | Mean: 20.6 | Online self-administered questionnaire | ‘One SD above the mean’ on depression subscale of PQEEPH | 257 (15.4) |
| Yao et al. (2020) | Students of a military university in China | 27–28 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 84 | 52 (61.9) | Mean: 19.9 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 21 (25.0) |
| Yi et al. (2020a) | Undergraduates of a university in Zhanjiang, China | 2–8 March 2020 | Cluster sampling | 393 | 121 (30.8) | Mean: 21.7 | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 104 (26.5) |
| Yi et al. (2020b) | Undergraduates of a medical college in Xinxiang, China | 22–24 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 1234 | 462 (37.4) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 276 (22.4) |
| Yu et al. (2020) | Undergraduates in Guangdong, China | NR | Convenience sampling | 427 | 98 (23.0) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 129 (30.2) |
| Zhan et al. (2020) | Junior college students, undergraduates and postgraduates of four medical universities in Hunan and Fujian, China | 17–19 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 266 | 76 (28.6) | <18: 16 (6.0) 18–25: 188 (70.7) 26–35:58 (21.8) >35: 4 (1.5) |
Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of DASS21 ⩾ 10 | 54 (20.3) |
| Zhang et al. (2020b) | Undergraduates of four universities in Guangdong, China | 31 January–4 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 312 | 67 (21.5) | Mean: 19.6 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 92 (29.5) |
| Zhang et al. (2020c) | University students in China | 4–7 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 7833 | 2081 (26.6) | Mean: 19.8 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 3053 (39.0) |
| Yang et al. (2020a), Zhang et al. (2020d) | Medical undergraduates in China | 11–19 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 6226 | 2484 (39.9) | Range: 18–27 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 2206 (35.4) |
| Zhang et al. (2020e) | Medical undergraduates of a university in Chenzhou, China | 27–29 February 2020 | Cluster sampling | 932 | 505 (54.2) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 270 (29.0) |
| Zhang et al. (2020f) | Medical students of two universities in Inner Mongolia, China | February 2020 | Random sampling | 1486 | 453 (30.5) | Mean: 21.7 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 528 (35.5) |
| Zhang et al. (2020g) | Undergraduates and postgraduates in China | February–April, 2020 | Convenience sampling | 1409 | 733 (52.0) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 160 (11.4) |
| Zhang et al. (2020h) | Students of 57 universities in China | 21–24 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 2270 | 877 (38.6) | ⩽19: 660 (29.1) 20–23: 1458 (64.2) ⩾24: 152 (6.7) |
Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS > 53 | 237 (10.4) |
| Zhao et al. (2020a) | Undergraduates and postgraduates in China | 23 March–20 April 2020 | Convenience sampling | 281 | 83 (29.5) | Mean: 23.6 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 170 (60.5) |
| Zhao et al. (2020b) | Chinese undergraduates and postgraduates in South Korea | 23 March—8 April 2020 | Convenience sampling | 171 | 57 (33.3) | Mean: 24.1 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 10 | 49 (28.7) |
| Zhao et al. (2020c) | University students in China | NR | Convenience sampling | 364 | NR | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | Depression subscale of DASS21 ⩾ 10 | 118 (32.4) |
| Zhao and Hu (2020) | Undergraduates of a medical college in Ganzhou, China | March–April 2020 | Convenience sampling | 456 | 240 (52.6) | Mean: 22.1 | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 50 (11.0) |
| Zhou et al. (2020) | Undergraduates and postgraduates in China | 1–15 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 11 133 | 4195 (37.7) | Median: 21.0 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 4119 (37.0) |
| Chen and Zhu (2021) | Undergraduates and postgraduates of a university in Shanghai, China | 12–15 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 3353 | 1651 (49.2) | Mean: 21.8 | Online self-administered questionnaire | CES-D-11 ⩾ 10 | 1693 (50.5) |
| Ni et al. (2021) | Medical postgraduates of a general hospital in Nanjing, China | 4 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 157 | NR | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 76 (48.4) |
| Pan et al. (2021) | Undergraduates and postgraduates in China | 4–9 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 3975 | 1611 (40.5) | Range: 16–30 | Online self-administered questionnaire | CES-D ⩾ 16 | 1568 (39.4) |
| Sun et al. (2021) | Undergraduates and postgraduates in China | 20 March−April 2020 | Convenience sampling | 1912 | 578 (30.2) | Mean: 20.3 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 890 (46.5) |
| Wang et al. (2021) | Junior college students, undergraduates and postgraduates in Anhui, China | 18–20 February 2020 | Convenience sampling | 840 | 276 (32.9) | Mean: 20.2 | Online self-administered questionnaire | SDS ⩾ 53 | 233 (27.7) |
| Wu et al. (2021) | Undergraduates in 16 provinces and cities in China | 4–12 February 2020 | Random sampling | 11 787 | 5056 (42.9) | Mean: 20.5 | Online self-administered questionnaire | PHQ-9 ⩾ 5 | 3053 (25.9) |
| Yu et al. (2021) | Undergraduates in China | 3–15 March 2020 | Convenience sampling | 1681 | 592 (35.2) | NR | Online self-administered questionnaire | CES-D ⩾ 16 | 955 (56.8) |
NR, not reported; s.d., standard deviation; PHQ-9, 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire; DASS-21, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale – 21 Items; PQEEPH, Psychological Questionnaires for Emergent Events of Public Health; SCL-90-R, Symptom Checklist-90-Revised; CES-D, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; SDS, Zung's Self-Depression Rating Scale; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.