Long term mental health trajectories after disasters and pandemics: A multilingual systematic review of prevalence, risk and protective factors

Elizabeth A Newnham; Enrique L P Mergelsberg; Yanyu Chen; Yoshiharu Kim; Lisa Gibbs; Peta L Dzidic; Makiko Ishida DaSilva; Emily Y Y Chan; Kanji Shimomura; Zui Narita; Zhe Huang; Jennifer Leaning

doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2022.102203

Long term mental health trajectories after disasters and pandemics: A multilingual systematic review of prevalence, risk and protective factors

Clin Psychol Rev. 2022 Nov:97:102203. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2022.102203. Epub 2022 Sep 14.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Population Health, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, Australia; Curtin enAble Institute, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, Australia; FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA. Electronic address: Elizabeth.Newnham@curtin.edu.au.
² School of Population Health, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, Australia; Curtin enAble Institute, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, Australia.
³ School of Population Health, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, Australia.
⁴ National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan.
⁵ Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Centre for Disaster Management and Public Safety, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
⁶ FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA; Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
⁷ National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan; Physical and Health Education, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁹ FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA.

PMID: 36162175
DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2022.102203

Abstract

The patterns of long-term psychological response after disasters and pandemics remain unclear. We aimed to determine the trajectories for post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), depression and anxiety prevalence following disasters and pandemic exposure; and identify associated risk and protective factors. A systematic review of the English, Chinese, and Japanese longitudinal mental health literature was conducted. We searched Cochrane, MEDLINE, ProQuest, PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, and CINAHL (English), CNKI and SINOMED (Chinese) and CiNii (Japanese) for studies published between January 2000 and May 2022. Following a pre-specified protocol (PROSPERO: CRD42020206424), conditional linear growth curve models and ANOVA analyses were conducted. The search identified 77,891 papers, with a final sample of 234: 206 English, 24 Chinese, and 4 Japanese-language papers. PTSS rates improved for all ages (p = .018, eta² = 0.035). In contrast, depression and anxiety prevalence remained elevated for years following exposure (p = .424, eta² = 0.019 and p = .051, eta² = 0.064, respectively), with significantly higher rates for children and adolescents (p < .005, eta² > 0.056). Earthquakes and pandemics were associated with higher prevalence of PTSS (p < .019, eta² > 0.019). Multi-level risk and protective factors were identified. The chronicity of mental health outcomes highlights a critical need for tailored, sustainable mental health services, particularly for children and adolescents, in disaster- and pandemic-affected settings.

Keywords: Adolescent; Anxiety; Child; Depression; Disasters; Pandemics; Post-traumatic stress disorder.

Publication types

Review
Systematic Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Anxiety / epidemiology
Child
Depression / epidemiology
Disasters*
Humans
Mental Health
Pandemics
Prevalence
Protective Factors
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* / psychology