COVID-19 Anxiety and Psychological Interventions in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives The symptoms of anxiety in the outbreak of COVID-19 were so severe that they entered the research literature as the term COVID-19 anxiety. This systematic review and meta-analysis study aimed to identify the variables related to COVID-19 anxiety and the effectiveness of psychological interventions on it. Methods In the present systematic review and meta-analysis, the literature was systematically searched in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, ISI, and Persian databases such as Noormags and SID on COVID-19 anxiety from January 2020 to April 2022. In the initial search, 105 articles were found. In the data correlation section, 13 studies for the fixed effects model were meta-analyzed. In the interventional section, 14 articles were selected. The systematic review data were extracted, and all statistical data were analyzed by CMA-2. Results The results of the meta-analyses for psychopathological correlations with COVID-19 anxiety in 13 articles indicated the correlation between COVID-19 anxiety and other mental states and disorders ( P = .0001/I 2 = 97.27%). Other findings demonstrated the effect of psychological interventions on COVID-19 anxiety in 14 articles with high effectiveness of these treatments ( P = .00/I 2 = 85.67%). Conclusions It seems COVID-19 anxiety is affected by psychological variables. Hence, psychological interventions represent effective treatments for anxiety due to COVID-19.