Artículo de revisión
Published on 27 de diciembre de 2022 | http://doi.org/10.5867/medwave.2022.11.2637
A non-systematic, descriptive literature review of observational research on anxiety during the first COVID-19 pandemic phase
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Description of the included studies.
| Study | Country and design | Anxiety instrument | Functional impairment | Main results |
| Wakode et al. [ | India; cross-sectional (n = 257); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | 88% had moderate to severe levels of anxiety |
| Reddy et al. [ | India; cross-sectional (n = 247); online, self-report; compared to healthcare professionals | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | Anxiety scores were low (92.7%) |
| Velikonja et al. [ | Slovenia; cross-sectional (n = 7731); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The sample presented a mild level of anxiety |
| Meesala et al. [ | India; cross-sectional (n = 1346); online, self-report; no comparison group | COVID-19 Anxiety Scale | No | The mean Covid Anxiety Scale score was 18.9 ± 6.4 (The item with highest mean scores was: “How worried are you about people coughing or sneezing for fear that you might get COVID-19?”) |
| Matsungo et al. [ | Zimbabwe; cross-sectional (n = 507); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder was 40.4% |
| Bérard et al. [ | France; cross-sectional (n = 536); telephone interview; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | Cardiovascular risk, physical activity | 32% of participants reported symptoms of anxiety |
| Muhammad Alfareed Zafar et al. [ | Pakistan; cross-sectional (n = 1014); online, self-report; compared to healthcare professionals and medical students | Self-Rating Anxiety Scale | No | The prevalence rate of anxiety symptoms was 4.6%; The general public had more anxiety than healthcare professionals |
| Ansari Ramandi et al. [ | Iran; cross-sectional (n = 788); online, self-report; no comparison group | Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale | No | Anxiety mean score was 7.01 ± 3.68 (119 participants had abnormal anxiety scores) |
| Kantor et al. [ | US; cross-sectional (n = 1005); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | 264 subjects (26.8%) met criteria for anxiety disorder based on a GAD-7 cut-off of 10; a cut-off of 7 resulted in 416 subjects (41.4%), who met the clinical criteria for anxiety. |
| Demartini et al. [[ | Italy; cross-sectional (n = 432); online, self-report; compared to healthcare workers | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | 25.5% presented pathological levels of anxiety |
| He et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 2689); online, self-report; compared to healthcare workers | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The proportion of individuals with mild or serious anxiety was higher in the general population when compared to quarantined population and healthcare workers |
| Hoffart et al. [ | Norway; cross-sectional (n = 10 061); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | 25.6% met the cut-off for generalized anxiety disorder |
| Rossi et al. [ | Italy; cross-sectional (n = 24 050); online, self-report; compared to healthcare workers | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | Insomnia | Anxiety symptoms had a prevalence of 21.25% for the general population group, 18.05% for second-line healthcare workers, and 20.55% for first-line healthcare workers |
| Vu et al. [ | Vietnam; cross-sectional (n = 406); online, self-report; no comparison group | No | Quality of life | Most people reported having anxiety/depression problems, which were 40.1%, 38.6% and 30.0% among people in the groups that did not need isolation, self-isolation and government quarantine facilities, respectively. |
| Zhang et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 179); online, self-report; compared to previous research (pre-COVID) in urban and rural areas | Self-Rating Anxiety Scale | No | Mean anxiety scores was 40.93 ± 9.36 (below the significant cutoff value) |
| Xiao et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 1038); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | 63% of the sample had at least mild anxiety, with 118 (11.4%) having moderate anxiety and 75 (7.2%) severe anxiety |
| Alamri et al. [ | Saudi Arabia; cross-sectional (n = 1597); online, self-report; no comparison group | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | 10% reported moderate to severe anxiety symptoms |
| Zhong et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 2185); online, self-report; no comparison group | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | Ten percent of the participants reported having experienced moderate to severe anxiety, and 9.8% reported mild symptoms of anxiety. |
| Ran et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 1775); online, self-report; comparied to previous research (pre-COVID) | Self-Rating Anxiety Scale | No | Compared to Ya'an (8.0%), participants in Jingzhou in 2020 had a significantly higher rate of anxiety (Self-rating Anxiety Scale scores ≥ 50, 24.1%) |
| Peters et al. [ | Germany; cohort (n = 113 928); online, self-report; compared changes in mental health scores between the NAKO baseline examination and the time of the COVID-NAKO questionnaire | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | Self-reported health status | The increase in mean severity of both depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms raised the proportion of those who were above the cut-off points on these two scales (≥10 points): from 4.3% to 5.7% (anxiety) |
| Ngoc Cong Duong et al [ | Vietnam; cross-sectional (n = 1385); online, self-report; no comparison group | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | 14.1% presented significant levels of anxiety |
| Mirhosseini et al. [ | Iran; cross-sectional (n = 3565); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The average anxiety scores of the participants were 6.06 |
| Jiang et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 60 199); online, self-report; no comparison group | State-Trait Anxiety Inventory | No | 33.21% were mildly anxious, 41.27% were moderately anxious, and 22.99% were severely anxious |
| Rias et al. [ | Indonesia; cross-sectional (n = 1082); online, self-report; no comparison group | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | Individuals who had low levels of spirituality had increased anxiety compared to those with higher levels of spirituality |
| Lenzo et al. [ | Italy; cross-sectional (n = 6314); online, self-report;with no comparison group | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | The prevalence of moderate to extremely severe symptoms among participants was 24.4% for anxiety |
| Thomas et al. [ | United Arab Emirates; cross-sectional (n = 1039); online, self-report, no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | 55.7% had scores above the cut-off of GAD-7 |
| Ferrucci et al. [ | Italy; cross-sectional (n = 10 025); online, self-report; no comparison group | No | Daily life activities (sexuality, nutrition, sleep, sense of freedom) | Data from north Italy exhibited higher prevalence of high psychological impact (anxiety 28%, fear 18%, anger 21%,sadness 27%, concern 42%) compared to center-south regions (anxiety21%, fear 14%, anger 22%, sadness 23%, concern 34%) |
| Jacques-Aviñó et al. [ | Spain; cross-sectional (n = 7053); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | A total of 31.2% of women and 17.7% of men reported anxiety |
| Elezi et al. [ | Albania; cross-sectional (n = 1678); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | Anxiety symptoms were more likely to occur in those who spent a longer time focusing on the outbreak of COVID-19 |
| Torales et al. [ | Paraguay; cross-sectional (n = 2206); online, self-report; no comparison group | No | No | 41.97% of the sample reported anxiety |
| Lu et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 1417); online, self-report; compared to healthcare workers | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The median score of GAD-7 was 4 (“normal level”) |
| Schnell et al. [ | Germany-Austria; cross-sectional (n = 1538); online, self-report; no comparison group | No | No | 41% of the sample had moderate symptoms of depression/anxiety |
| Hou et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 3088); online, self-report; compared to healthcare workers | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The prevalence of anxiety was 13.25% |
| Agberotimi et al. [ | Nigeria; cross-sectional (n = 884); online, self-report; compared to healthcare workers | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | Insomnia | The prevalence of anxiety symptoms was significantly higher among healthcare personnel than the general population (58.4% vs. 49.6%) |
| Ren et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 6130); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The prevalence of anxiety was 7.1% |
| Fisher et al. [ | Australia; cross-sectional (n = 13 829); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The estimated prevalence of clinically significant symptoms of anxiety was 21.0% |
| Massad et al. [ | Jordan; cross-sectional (n = 5274); online, self-report; no comparison group | The Beck Anxiety Inventory | No | The prevalence of mild, moderate, and severe anxiety was 21.5%, 10.9%, and 6%, respectively |
| Pandey et al. [ | India; cross-sectional (n = 1395); online, self-report; no comparison group | Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale | No | Anxiety was reported by 22.4% |
| O’Connor et al. [ | UK; cohort (n = 3077); online, self-report; repeated measures | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | Symptoms of anxiety did not change significantly |
| Stylianou et al. [ | Cyprus; cross-sectional (n = 216); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The overall prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder was 8.33% |
| Canet-Juric et al. [ | Argentina; cohort (n = 6057); online, self-report; repeated measures | State-Trait Anxiety Inventory | No | Anxiety levels showed a slight decrease in the full sample |
| Shevlin et al. [ | UK; cross-sectional (n = 2025); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The prevalence of anxiety was 21.6% |
| Qian et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 1011); online, self-report; compared to general population samples (Wuhan and Shanghai) | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The prevalence of moderate or severe anxiety was significantly higher |
| Huang et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 1172); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | Insomnia, physical symptoms | The percentage of anxiety was 33.02% |
| Fiorillo et al. [ | Italy; cross-sectional (n = 20 720); online, self-report; compared general population samples from different geographical regions | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | 17.6% reported severe or extremely severe anxiety symptoms |
| Parlapani et al. [ | Greece; cross-sectional (n = 3029); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | A significant proportion reported moderate-to-severe anxiety symptoms (77.4%) |
| Passos et al. [ | Portugal-Brazil; cross-sectional (n = 550); online, self-report; compared general population samples from different geographical regions | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The prevalence of anxiety was 71.3% (mild anxiety was present in 43.1%) |
| Zhao et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 1501); online/telephone interview, self-report/interview; compared general population samples at different times | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The prevalence of anxiety was similar between 2016 and 2017 but greatly increased during the COVID-19 outbreak |
| Campos et al. [ | Brazil; cross-sectional (n = 12 196); online, self-report; compared general population samples from different geographical regions | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | The prevalence of mild, moderate and severe, or extremely severe anxiety was 8.5%, 19.2%, and 16.5%, respectively |
| Hossain et al. [ | India; cross-sectional (n = 880); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The prevalence of anxiety was 49.1% |
| van der Velden [ | Netherlands; cohort (n = 3983); online, self-report; repeated measures | No | No | The prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms did not increase compared to the pre-outbreak prevalence |
| Azizi et al. [ | Morocco; cohort (n = 537); online, self-report; repeated measures | No | Quality of life | No significant differences in total anxiety and depression symptom scores |
| Duan et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 1390); online, self-report; compared general population samples at different times | No | No | There were no significant differences in compulsion-anxiety between the outbreak and the remission of pandemic, but fear significantly decreased |
| Casagrande et al. [ | Italy; cross-sectional (n = 2291); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | Sleep quality | 32.1% reported high anxiety |
| Rossi et al. [ | Italy; cross-sectional (n = 18 147); online, self-report; compared general population samples from different geographical regions | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | Insomnia | 20.8% reported severe anxiety symptoms |
| Sameer et al. [ | India-Pakistan- Saudi Arabia-UK-US-Canada-United Arab Emirates-Estonia, Netherlands-Germany-Bangladesh-Chile-Korea-Japan-Malaysia-Switzerland; cross-sectional (n = 418); online, self-report; compared general population samples from different geographical regions | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | For anxiety, among male participants, 11.5% had moderate, 10.7% severe, and 36.9% extremely severe anxiety; while among female participants, 4.6% had moderate, 8.0% severe, and 54% extremely severe anxiety |
| Pakenham et al. [ | Italy; cross-sectional (n = 1035); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | 12.3% and 3% of the sample reported moderate and severe anxiety levels, respectively. |
| Galindo-Vásquez et al. [ | Mexico; cross-sectional (n = 1508); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | 20.8% had symptoms of severe anxiety |
| Han et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 9764); online, self-report; compared general population samples from different geographical regions | State-Trait Anxiety Inventory | No | People in Hubei province were the most anxious (37.2% with high anxiety), followed by those living in Beijing (30.5% with high anxiety) and Shanghai (30.2% with high anxiety) |
| Fernández et al. [ | Argentina; cross-sectional (n = 4408); online, self-report; no comparison group | Brief Symptom Inventory-53 | No | Participants reported elevated symptoms of anxiety (31.8%) and phobic-anxiety |
| Al-Qahtani [ | Saudi Arabia; cross-sectional (n = 1508); online, self-report; compared saudi and non-saudi participants | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | Anxiety levels differed significantly between saudi and non-saudi samples |
| Nekliudov et al. [ | Russia; cross-sectional (n = 23 756); online, self-report; compared general population samples from different geographical regions | State-Trait Anxiety Inventory | No | State Anxiety Scale scores were higher than Trait Anxiety Scale scores across all regions of Russia |
| Ran et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 1840); online, self-report; compared general population samples from different geographical regions | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The prevalence of moderate and severe anxiety was 6% and 2.8%, respectively |
| Guo et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 2331); online, self-report; no comparison group | Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale | No | 32.7% experienced elevated anxiety or depression symptoms |
| Hyland et al. [ | Ireland; cross-sectional (n = 1041); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder | No | 20% of the sample screened positive for generalized anxiety disorder |
| Islam et al. [ | India; cross-sectional (n = 1311); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | 37.3% reported generalized anxiety |
| Alkhamees et al. [ | Saudi Arabia; cross-sectional (n = 1160); online, self-report; no comparison group | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | 24% reported moderate to severe anxiety symptoms, |
| Solomou et al. [ | Cyprus; cross-sectional (n = 1642); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder | Quality of life, including finances, personal health, and satisfaction with life | 14% scored moderate anxiety and 9.1% severe anxiety |
| Petzold et al. [ | Germany; cross-sectional (n = 6509); online, self-report; no comparison group | No | Limitations in daily life | More than 50% reported having anxiety and psychological distress related to the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Gualano et al. [ | Italy; cross-sectional (n = 1515); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | Avoidance of physical activity, insomnia | Anxiety symptoms prevalence 23.2% |
| Shi et al. [ | China; cross-sectional (n = 56 679); online, self-report; compared general population samples from different geographical regions | Generalized Anxiety Disorder | Insomnia | 31.6% reported significant anxiety levels |
| Naser et al. [ | Jordan; cross-sectional (n = 4126); online, self-report; compared to healthcare professionals | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | The prevalence of anxiety was 13.1% |
| Verma et al. [ | India; cross-sectional (n = 354); online, self-report; no comparison group | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | No | 28% suffered from moderate to extremely severe anxiety. |
| Shevlin et al. [ | UK; cross-sectional (n = 2025); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | Somatic symptoms | There may be increased levels of generalized anxiety in the general population, but there may also be anxiety specifically associated to COVID-19 |
| González-Sanguino [ | Spain; cross-sectional (n = 3480); online, self-report; no comparison group | Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale | No | 21.6% were likely to be diagnosed with anxiety. |
| Wang et al. [ | China; cohort (n = 1738); online, self-report; repeated measures | Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale | Physical symptoms | During the initial evaluation, moderate-to-severe anxiety was noted in 28.8% with no longitudinal changes |
GAD-7, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale.
Prepared by the authors based on the results of the study.