Changes in Prevalence of Mental Illness Among US Adults During Compared with Before the COVID-19 Pandemic

Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2022 Mar;45(1):1-28. doi: 10.1016/j.psc.2021.11.013. Epub 2021 Nov 12.

Abstract

The authors review trend and cohort surveys and administrative data comparing prevalence of mental disorders during, versus, and before the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in mental health disparities. Best evidence suggests clinically significant anxiety-depression point prevalence increased by relative-risk (RR) = 1.3 to 1.5 during the pandemic compared with before. This level of increase is much less than the implausibly high RR = 5.0 to 8.0 estimates reported in trend studies early in the pandemic based on less-appropriate comparisons. Changes in prevalence also occurred during the pandemic, but relative prevalence appears not to have changed substantially over this time.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cohort study; Health disparities; Mental disorders; Trend study.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anxiety / epidemiology
  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • Depression / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Mental Disorders* / epidemiology
  • Pandemics
  • Prevalence
  • SARS-CoV-2