Mental health in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

Nafiso Ahmed; Phoebe Barnett; Anna Greenburgh; Tamara Pemovska; Theodora Stefanidou; Natasha Lyons; Sarah Ikhtabi; Shivangi  Talwar; Emma Francis; Samantha M Harris; Prisha Shah; Karen Machin; Stephen Jeffreys; Lizzie Mitchell; Chris Lynch; Una Foye; Merle Schlief; Rebecca Appleton; Katherine Saunders; Helen Baldwin; Sophie Allan; Luke Sheridan Rains; Omaya Kharboutly; Ariana Kular; Peter Goldblatt; Robert Stewart; James Kirkbride; Brynmor Lloyd-Evans; Sonia Johnson

doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00113-X

Mental health in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

Nafiso Ahmed^*, Phoebe Barnett, Anna Greenburgh, Tamara Pemovska, Theodora Stefanidou, Natasha Lyons, Sarah Ikhtabi, Shivangi Talwar, Emma Francis, Samantha M Harris, Prisha Shah, Karen Machin, Stephen Jeffreys, Lizzie Mitchell, Chris Lynch, Una Foye, Merle Schlief, Rebecca Appleton, Katherine Saunders, Helen BaldwinSophie Allan, Luke Sheridan Rains, Omaya Kharboutly, Ariana Kular, Peter Goldblatt, Robert Stewart, James Kirkbride, Brynmor Lloyd-Evans, Sonia Johnson

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused immediate and far-reaching disruption to society, the economy, and health-care services. We synthesised evidence on the effect of the pandemic on mental health and mental health care in high-income European countries. We included 177 longitudinal and repeated cross-sectional studies comparing prevalence or incidence of mental health problems, mental health symptom severity in people with pre-existing mental health conditions, or mental health service use before versus during the pandemic, or between different timepoints of the pandemic. We found that epidemiological studies reported higher prevalence of some mental health problems during the pandemic compared with before it, but that in most cases this increase reduced over time. Conversely, studies of health records showed reduced incidence of new diagnoses at the start of the pandemic, which further declined during 2020. Mental health service use also declined at the onset of the pandemic but increased later in 2020 and through 2021, although rates of use did not return to pre-pandemic levels for some services. We found mixed patterns of effects of the pandemic on mental health and social outcome for adults already living with mental health conditions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	537-556
Number of pages	20
Journal	The Lancet Psychiatry
Volume	10
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00113-X
Publication status	Published - 12 Jun 2023

Keywords

Covid-19
mental health
review
europe

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Ahmed, N., Barnett, P., Greenburgh, A., Pemovska, T., Stefanidou, T., Lyons, N., Ikhtabi, S., Talwar, S., Francis, E., Harris, S. M., Shah, P., Machin, K., Jeffreys, S., Mitchell, L., Lynch, C., Foye, U., Schlief, M., Appleton, R., Saunders, K., ... Johnson, S. (2023). Mental health in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review. The Lancet Psychiatry, 10(7), 537-556. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00113-X

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abstract = "The COVID-19 pandemic caused immediate and far-reaching disruption to society, the economy, and health-care services. We synthesised evidence on the effect of the pandemic on mental health and mental health care in high-income European countries. We included 177 longitudinal and repeated cross-sectional studies comparing prevalence or incidence of mental health problems, mental health symptom severity in people with pre-existing mental health conditions, or mental health service use before versus during the pandemic, or between different timepoints of the pandemic. We found that epidemiological studies reported higher prevalence of some mental health problems during the pandemic compared with before it, but that in most cases this increase reduced over time. Conversely, studies of health records showed reduced incidence of new diagnoses at the start of the pandemic, which further declined during 2020. Mental health service use also declined at the onset of the pandemic but increased later in 2020 and through 2021, although rates of use did not return to pre-pandemic levels for some services. We found mixed patterns of effects of the pandemic on mental health and social outcome for adults already living with mental health conditions.",

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note = "Funding Information: This paper presents independent research commissioned and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme, conducted by the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Mental Health. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR, the Department of Health and Social Care or its arm's length bodies, or other Government departments. RS is partly funded by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at the South London, Maudsley National Health Service Foundation Trust, and King's College London; NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London at King's College Hospital National Health Service Foundation Trust; the DATAMIND Health Data Research UK Mental Health Data Hub (MRC grant MR/W014386); and the UK Prevention Research Partnership (Violence, Health and Society; MR-VO49879/1), an initiative funded by UK Research and Innovation Councils, the Department of Health and Social Care (England), the UK devolved administrations, and leading health research charities. ERF is funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC Doctoral Training Programme: MR/N013867/1). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 Elsevier Ltd",

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Ahmed, N, Barnett, P, Greenburgh, A, Pemovska, T, Stefanidou, T, Lyons, N, Ikhtabi, S, Talwar, S, Francis, E, Harris, SM, Shah, P, Machin, K, Jeffreys, S, Mitchell, L, Lynch, C, Foye, U, Schlief, M, Appleton, R, Saunders, K , Baldwin, H, Allan, S, Sheridan Rains, L, Kharboutly, O, Kular, A, Goldblatt, P, Stewart, R, Kirkbride, J, Lloyd-Evans, B & Johnson, S 2023, 'Mental health in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review', The Lancet Psychiatry, vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 537-556. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00113-X

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AU - Ahmed, Nafiso

AU - Barnett, Phoebe

AU - Greenburgh, Anna

AU - Pemovska, Tamara

AU - Stefanidou, Theodora

AU - Lyons, Natasha

AU - Ikhtabi, Sarah

AU - Talwar, Shivangi

AU - Francis, Emma

AU - Harris, Samantha M

AU - Shah, Prisha

AU - Machin, Karen

AU - Jeffreys, Stephen

AU - Mitchell, Lizzie

AU - Lynch, Chris

AU - Foye, Una

AU - Schlief, Merle

AU - Appleton, Rebecca

AU - Saunders, Katherine

AU - Baldwin, Helen

AU - Allan, Sophie

AU - Sheridan Rains, Luke

AU - Kharboutly, Omaya

AU - Kular, Ariana

AU - Goldblatt, Peter

AU - Stewart, Robert

AU - Kirkbride, James

AU - Lloyd-Evans, Brynmor

AU - Johnson, Sonia

N1 - Funding Information: This paper presents independent research commissioned and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme, conducted by the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Mental Health. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR, the Department of Health and Social Care or its arm's length bodies, or other Government departments. RS is partly funded by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at the South London, Maudsley National Health Service Foundation Trust, and King's College London; NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London at King's College Hospital National Health Service Foundation Trust; the DATAMIND Health Data Research UK Mental Health Data Hub (MRC grant MR/W014386); and the UK Prevention Research Partnership (Violence, Health and Society; MR-VO49879/1), an initiative funded by UK Research and Innovation Councils, the Department of Health and Social Care (England), the UK devolved administrations, and leading health research charities. ERF is funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC Doctoral Training Programme: MR/N013867/1). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2023/6/12

Y1 - 2023/6/12

N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic caused immediate and far-reaching disruption to society, the economy, and health-care services. We synthesised evidence on the effect of the pandemic on mental health and mental health care in high-income European countries. We included 177 longitudinal and repeated cross-sectional studies comparing prevalence or incidence of mental health problems, mental health symptom severity in people with pre-existing mental health conditions, or mental health service use before versus during the pandemic, or between different timepoints of the pandemic. We found that epidemiological studies reported higher prevalence of some mental health problems during the pandemic compared with before it, but that in most cases this increase reduced over time. Conversely, studies of health records showed reduced incidence of new diagnoses at the start of the pandemic, which further declined during 2020. Mental health service use also declined at the onset of the pandemic but increased later in 2020 and through 2021, although rates of use did not return to pre-pandemic levels for some services. We found mixed patterns of effects of the pandemic on mental health and social outcome for adults already living with mental health conditions.

AB - The COVID-19 pandemic caused immediate and far-reaching disruption to society, the economy, and health-care services. We synthesised evidence on the effect of the pandemic on mental health and mental health care in high-income European countries. We included 177 longitudinal and repeated cross-sectional studies comparing prevalence or incidence of mental health problems, mental health symptom severity in people with pre-existing mental health conditions, or mental health service use before versus during the pandemic, or between different timepoints of the pandemic. We found that epidemiological studies reported higher prevalence of some mental health problems during the pandemic compared with before it, but that in most cases this increase reduced over time. Conversely, studies of health records showed reduced incidence of new diagnoses at the start of the pandemic, which further declined during 2020. Mental health service use also declined at the onset of the pandemic but increased later in 2020 and through 2021, although rates of use did not return to pre-pandemic levels for some services. We found mixed patterns of effects of the pandemic on mental health and social outcome for adults already living with mental health conditions.

KW - Covid-19

KW - mental health

KW - review

KW - europe

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85162897724&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00113-X

DO - 10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00113-X

M3 - Review article

SN - 2215-0366

VL - 10

SP - 537

EP - 556

JO - The Lancet Psychiatry

JF - The Lancet Psychiatry

IS - 7

ER -

Mental health in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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