The Prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the General Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Single-Arm Meta-Analysis

Liqing Zhang; Rong Pan; Yixian Cai; Jiyang Pan

doi:10.30773/pi.2020.0458

The Prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the General Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Single-Arm Meta-Analysis

Psychiatry Investig. 2021 May;18(5):426-433. doi: 10.30773/pi.2020.0458. Epub 2021 Apr 30.

Authors

Liqing Zhang¹, Rong Pan¹, Yixian Cai¹, Jiyang Pan¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic by a systematic review and single-arm meta-analysis.

Methods: CNKI, PubMed, EMBASE, and MEDLINE were searched to collect literature on the prevalence of PTSD in the general population during the epidemic. The retrieval time is from the database construction to 31/08/2020. Meta-analysis was performed on the included articles by using Review Manger 5.3 and Stata 16.0 software.

Results: The prevalence of PTSD in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic was 15% (95% CI: 11-21%, p<0.001).

Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic brought certain mental pain to general population, leading to a rise in the incidence of PTSD in a short time.

Keywords: COVID-19; General population; Meta-analysis; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Prevalence.