Table 1.
Characteristics of included studies (N = 12).
| First author | Outcome domains | Description of study design and participants | Country | Pre- and post-COVID-19 dates of data collection | N (%) females or women (F/W) and males or men (M/M) | Mean (SD) participant age or age range (%) | Use of sex or gender | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anxiety symptoms | Depression symptoms | General mental health | Stress | |||||||
| Dong57 | SCL-90-R | First-year undergraduate students from a single university recruited online who completed two assessments (one prior to COVID-19 and one during) | China |
09/2019 pre-11/2020a |
F/W: 3162–3,277 (75.5–77.4) M/M: 923–1064 (22.6–24.5) |
19 (1) | Gender | |||
| Lim60 | PROMIS Anxiety | PROMIS Depression | PSS | Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus from the Georgians Organized Against Lupus cohort who complete annual surveys | United States |
NR/2018–2019 03–04/2020 |
F/W: 295 (93.4) M/M: 21 (6.6) |
47 (13) | Sex | |
| Magson56 | SCAS-C | SMFQ-C | Adolescents aged 13–16 years who complete annual assessments as part of an ongoing longitudinal cohort that began 4 years prior | Australia |
NR/2019 05/2020 |
Girls: 126 (50.8) Boys: 122 (49.2) |
14 (1) | Inconsistent | ||
| Megías-Robles53 | PANAS-NA | Community sample aged 19–67 years who completed two assessments (one prior to COVID-19 and one during) | Spain |
11/2019 04/2020 |
F/W: 67 (65.7) M/M: 35 (34.3) |
30 (13) | Gender | |||
|
Pierce49 Daly50 |
GHQ-12 | National probability-based sample of adults aged ≥ 18 years who are part of the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study; an ongoing longitudinal study which has been collecting data continuously since 2009 | United Kingdom | Pre-COVID-19 wavesb |
F/W: 7181c (46.7) M/M: 8195c (53.3) |
18–34 (11.5)d 35–49 (22.4)d 50–64 (34.5)d 65 + (31.6)d |
Gender Inconsistent |
|||
| 04–09/2020 |
F/W: 6380 (58.4) M/M: 4538 (41.6) |
|||||||||
| Rimfeld54 | GAD-7 | SMFQ | Adult twins born between 1994–1996 who, at age 18 months, were enrolled in the Twins Early Development Study; a longitudinal study which has collected over 14 waves of assessment in 20 years of data collection | United Kingdom |
NR/2018 04–05/2020 |
F/W: 2513–2578e (69.8–70.5) M/M: 1050–1116e (29.5–30.2) |
24–26 (100.0) | Inconsistent | ||
| Saraswathi58 | DASS-21 Anxiety | DASS-21 Depression | DASS-21 Stress | Convenience sample of undergraduate university medical students who completed two assessments (one prior to COVID-19 and one during) | India |
12/2019 06/2020 |
F/W: 139 (64.1) M/M: 78 (35.9) |
20 (2) | Inconsistent | |
| Savage59 | WEMWBS | PSS | Undergraduate students from a single university recruited by email invitation and completed three or more assessments as part of the Student Health Study, a longitudinal cohort study | United Kingdom |
10/2019 04/2020 |
F/W: 154 (72.0) M/M: 60 (28.0) |
18–21 (64.5) 22–25 (22.0) 26–35 (7.5) 35 + (6.1) |
Inconsistent | ||
| Shanahan55 | PSS | Young adults who completed 9 assessments since 2004 as part of the Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood, a longitudinal cohort study | Switzerland |
NR/2018 04/2020 |
F/W: 378 (48.1) M/M: 408 (51.9) |
22 (0) | Sex | |||
|
van der Velden51 van der Velden52 |
MHI-5 | National probability-based sample of adults aged ≥ 18 years who were enrolled and completed assessments for the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences since 2007 | The Netherlands |
03/2019 11–12/2019 03/2020 11–12/2020 |
F/W: 2020 (50.7) M/M: 1963 (49.3) F/W: 2062 (50.7) M/M: 2002 (49.3) |
18–34 (24.9)f 35–49 (22.9)f 50–64 (26.1)f 65 + (26.1)f |
Gender Sex |
|||
DASS-21 Anxiety = Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale—Anxiety subscale; DASS-21 Depression = Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale—Depression subscale; DASS-21 Stress = Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale—Stress subscale, GAD-7 Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7; GHQ-12 = General Health Questionnaire-12; MHI-5 = Mental Health Index-5; PANAS-NA = Positive and Negative Affect Schedule—Negative affect subscale; PROMIS Anxiety = Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System—Anxiety subscale; PROMIS Depression = Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System—Depression subscale; PSS = Perceived Stress Scale; SCAS-C = Spence Children's Anxiety Scale—Child; SCL-90-R = Symptom Check List-90 Revised; SMFQ = Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire; SMFQ-C = Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire—Child Version; WEMWBS = Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale.
aAuthors did not provide dates of data collection. The article was identified in a November 9, 2020 search. bAnalyses compared COVID-19 symptom levels to preceding trends across multiple assessments. cNumber included in fixed effects regression analysis from where the majority of data were extracted. dAge groups reported for Daly48; for Pierce,49 16–24 = 8.8%, 25–34 = 11.2%, 35–44 = 16.0%, 45–54 = 20.1%, 55–69 = 28.9%, 70 + = 15.1%. eNumber of participants differed by outcome. fBased on van der Velden.51.