The prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and sleep disturbance in higher education students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113863Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The prevalence of depressive symptoms among higher education students is 34%.

  • The prevalence of anxiety symptoms among higher education students is 32%.

  • The prevalence of sleep disturbances among higher education students is 33%.

  • Prevalence of mental disorders differs based on geographical regions.

  • The prevalence of depression may increase with time and age.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying infection control measures introduced significant disruptions to the routines of many higher education students around the world. It also deprived them of in-person counselling services and social support. These changes have put students at a greater risk of developing mental illness. The objective of this review is to assess the prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and sleep disturbances in higher education students during the pandemic. A systematic search of English and Chinese databases was conducted current to January 1st, 2021. The quality of included studies was evaluated using a modified Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and sleep disturbances were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. Eighty-nine studies (n=1,441,828) were included. The pooled prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and sleep disturbances was 34%, 32% and 33%, respectively. The prevalence values differ based on geographical regions, diagnostic criteria, education level, undergraduate year of study, financial situation, living arrangements and gender. Overall, the prevalence of depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms synthesized in this study was higher compared to pre-pandemic prevalence in similar populations. Evidently, mental health screening and intervention should be a top priority for universities and colleges during the pandemic.

Keywords

Depression
Anxiety
Sleep Disturbance
COVID-19
Pandemic
University
Student

Cited by (0)

1

Jiawen Deng and Fangwen Zhou contributed equally to this manuscript, and both serve as first authors.

View Abstract