Meta-analytic evidence of depression and anxiety in Eastern Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic

  1. Stephen X. Zhang
  2. Saylor O. Miller
  3. Wen Xu
  4. Allen Yin
  5. Bryan Z. Chen
  6. Andrew Delios
  7. Rebecca Kechen Dong
  8. Richard Z. Chen
  9. Roger S. McIntyre
  10. Xue Wan
  11. Senhu Wang
  12. Jiyao Chen

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Abstract

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  1. Version published to 10.1080/20008198.2021.2000132
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.06.21.21259227: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Ethicsnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variableThe following variables were collected from each study: author, title, country, starting and ending dates of data collection, study design, population, sample size, respondent rate, female proportion rate, age range and mean, outcome, outcome level, instruments, cut-off scores, and prevalence.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    2.1 Data sources and database search strategy: A comprehensive literature search was performed in the following databases: Web of Science, PUBMED, EMBASE, and medRxiv based on keywords shown in Appendix 1 with Boolean operators.
    EMBASE
    suggested: (EMBASE, RRID:SCR_001650)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    4.4 Study limitations: First, as we only included studies in English, there is an expected language bias. Second, our meta-analysis is limited by the limitations of the empirical studies. Due to the nature of lockdowns and social isolation during the pandemic, many of the studies used convenience samples, reducing the accurate representation of respective populations. Varying tools of data collection used different cut-off scores. In future research, mental health evaluation of a random sample would yield representative data. Additionally, the meta-analysis is limited by the populations and mental health symptoms represented in the available empirical studies. Only two studies covered insomnia, and therefore insomnia was not represented in the meta-analysis. Further studies focused on insomnia prevalence would contribute to a pooled prevalence of insomnia and improve supporting data for evidence-based medical interventions. 4.5 Conclusion: Understanding the prevalence of mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic represents the first step to enable evidence-based medical practices by assessing the mental health situation during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope the meta-analysis in Eastern Europe can inform mental health practices as well as encourage future research on mental health during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.06.21.21259227v1 on medRxiv