Post-Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Meta-Analysis and Intervention Approaches to Ensure Mental Health and Well-Being

Abstract

Background: Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, many measures have been taken to prevent the spread of the virus. Consequently, many minors have been confined to their homes and have had to subsequently adapt to countless protocol changes. These factors appear to have contributed to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in many children. Materials and Methods: The authors searched Medline through PubMed and other databases for studies published from 1 December 2019 to 31 December 2021 on the prevalence of PTSD in schoolchildren. The authors used a random-effects model to calculate the pooled prevalence of PTSD. Results: A total of six studies were included in this review. Our results show a pooled prevalence of PTSD of 14% in children and adolescents. Subgroup analyses identify a significantly higher prevalence of PTSD for studies conducted in China and a higher prevalence in boys. The prevalence of PTSD appeared independent of child age or the methodological rigor of the study. Conclusions: Our results suggest that a large number of children may be suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Public health measures are thus needed to improve children’s mental health during and after the pandemic, so that the suffering is mitigated to prevent long-lasting effects.

Expressive suppression moderates the relationship between PTSD from COVID-19 and somatization and validation of the Arabic version of Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15)

“…Experiences from previous epidemics have shown that 42% of MERS survivors and 26% of SARS survivors presented PTSD symptoms following the outbreak [ 10 , 11 ]. Similarly, extensive body of evidence from systematic reviews and metaanalyses reported high prevalence estimates of COVID-19-related PTSD in various populations worldwide, including the adult general population [ 12 ],children and adolescents [ 13 ] university students [ 14 , 15 ], teachers [ 16 ], healthcare workers [ 17 , 18 ], survivors of COVID-19 infection [ 19 ], and in high risk groups (e.g., older adults, pregnant women, obese individuals, smokers, individuals with obesity or other comorbidities ) [ 20 ]. Arab people are of no exception (e.g., [ 21 – 24 ], even though evidence on the topic from this population remains relatively scant.…”