Incidence of psychological illness after coronavirus outbreak: a meta-analysis study

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 has had an enormous impact worldwide and is still spreading. Globally confirmed infections have surpassed 41.1 million, of which more than 1 million resulted in deaths. Considering the relationship between public health disasters and emotional disorders, it is essential to examine psychological well-being related to this pandemic. METHOD: We performed a systematic search on psychological problems from PubMed to 10 October 2020, and conducted a meta-analysis using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis V.3 software. RESULTS: The results showed a 19.4% and 26.8% pooled incidence for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), respectively, during the SARS and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-related coronavirus outbreaks. However, overall prevalence of depression was somewhat higher at 27.0% during the COVID-19 period. The pooled incidence of PTSD during COVID-19 compared with SARS and MERS outbreaks, was lower, at 16.4%. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that there are shared and distinct psychological responses following SARS, MERS and COVID-19, and show pessimistic estimates of a wide range of potentially upcoming psychological problems.