Abstract
The worldwide mental health burden associated to COVID-19. The psychological symptoms associated to COVID-19 can originate from three different sources: lockdowns, pandemic life and virus infection (both COVID-19 and post COVID-19 condition). Within the psychological symptoms it can be found: anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, fatigue and cognitive impairment (i.e., ’brain fog’, mental slowness, deficits in attention, executive functioning, working memory, learning, articulation, and/or psychomotor coordination). Plus, two psychological conditions associated to the COVID-19 pandemic have been coined so far by the World Health Organization: pandemic fatigue and post COVID-19 condition. The increase of psychological symptoms both in the general population and in frontline workers (especially health-care workers) generates an unprecedented number of psychological patients and it challenges national mental health systems.
Highlights
IntroductionGiven the overwhelming number of studies, a broad vision has been prioritized by selecting systematic reviews, meta-analysis and longitudinal research over transversal or nation-specific studies, whenever possible
Metaanalyses reviewing the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on mental health mostly focus on three disorders: anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress
A meta-analysis found the proportion of individuals experiencing fatigue 12 or more weeks following COVID-19 diagnosis was 0.32, whereas the proportion of individuals exhibiting cognitive impairment was
Summary
Given the overwhelming number of studies, a broad vision has been prioritized by selecting systematic reviews, meta-analysis and longitudinal research over transversal or nation-specific studies, whenever possible This strategy does not ensure the provision of causal or relational knowledge given the fact that most of the studies conducted and published so far are cross-sectional (i.e., measuring a specific population group in a specific point of time) rather than longitudinal (i.e., gathering several measures of a specific population group along a period of time) or prospective (i.e., starting the data collection before the pandemic outbreak, which may count as a baseline, and continuing afterwards, to allow for comparisons), and even systematic reviews may be biased in their conclusions.
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