The pandemic has led to a significant rise in majordepressive and anxiety disorders globally, affecting women and younger peoplemore in 2020, a first global estimate of Covid-19 impact on mental health hasrevealed.
The study, published in The Lancet, suggests thatadditional 53 million cases of major depressive disorder and 76 million casesof anxiety disorders were due to the pandemic.
"Countries hit hardest by the pandemic in 2020 hadthe greatest increases in cases of major depressive disorder and anxietydisorders," said the authors, calling for urgent action by governments andpolicy makers to strengthen mental health systems globally to meet increaseddemand due to the pandemic.
Countries with high Covid-19 infection rates and majorreductions in the movement of people - a consequence of measures such aslockdowns and school closures - had the greatest increases in prevalence ofmajor depressive disorder and anxiety disorders.
"Promoting mental wellbeing, targeting factorscontributing to poor mental health that have been made worse by the pandemic,and improving treatment for those who develop a mental disorder should becentral to efforts to improve support services," said lead study author DrDamian Santomauro of School of Public Health, University of Queensland,Australia.
Even before the pandemic, mental healthcare systems inmost countries have historically been under-resourced and disorganised in theirservice delivery.
"Meeting the added demand for mental health servicesdue to Covid-19 will be challenging, but taking no action should not be anoption," Santomauro added.
Until now, no study had analysed the global impact of theCovid-19 pandemic on prevalence of major depressive disorder and anxietydisorders in 2020.
To reach this conclusion, a systematic literature reviewwas performed to identify population survey data published between January 1,2020, and January 29, 2021.
The systematic review identified 5,683 unique datasources, of which 48 (one of which reported across two regions) met theinclusion criteria.
Most studies were from Western Europe (22) andhigh-income North America (14), with others from Australasia (5), high-incomeAsia Pacific (5), East Asia (2), and Central Europe (1).
The meta-analysis indicates that increased Covid-19infection rate and reduced movement of people were associated with increasedprevalence of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders, suggesting thatcountries hit hardest by the pandemic in 2020 had the greatest increases inprevalence of the disorders.
In the absence of the pandemic, model estimates suggestthere would have been 193 million cases of major depressive disorder (2,471cases per 100,000 population) globally in 2020.
However, the analysis shows there were 246 million cases(3,153 per 100,000), an increase of 28 per cent (an additional 53 millioncases).
More than 35 million of the additional cases were inwomen, compared with close to 18 million in men, the findings showed.
Model estimates suggest there would have been 298 millioncases of anxiety disorders (3,825 per 100,000 population) globally in 2020 hadthe pandemic not happened.
The analysis indicates there were in fact an estimated374 million cases (4,802 per 100,000) during 2020, an increase of 26 per cent(an additional 76 million cases).
"Almost 52 million of the additional cases were inwomen, compared with around 24 million in men," the study said.
Younger people were more affected by major depressivedisorder and anxiety disorders in 2020 than older age groups.
"School closures and wider restrictions limitingyoung people's ability to learn and interact with their peers, combined withthe increased risk of unemployment, also meant that young people were also moreheavily impacted by major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders during thepandemic," stressed study co-author Alize Ferrari from University ofQueensland.
Even before the pandemic, major depressive disorder andanxiety disorders -- which can increase the risk of other health outcomes suchas suicide -- were major contributors to the global burden of disease,affecting millions of men and women of all ages around the world.