The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress in nurses working in Iranian hospitals: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. Depression, anxiety, and stress are common problems among nurses. OBJECTIVE. This meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among nurses working in Iranian hospitals. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Published studies on nurses working in Iranian hospitals were investigated in this meta-analysis. All national and international online databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scientific Information Database (SID), MagIran, and IranMedex, as well as Google Scholar, were searched using related keywords without any time limits until September 2017. The heterogeneity of studies was assessed using the I2 index. Data were analyzed in STATA version 11.1. RESULTS. In 28 studies with a sample size of 6581 people, the prevalence of depression was 31% (n=2040) among Iranian nurses (31% in females and 28% in males) according to Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI); 30% (n=1974) (54% in females and 40% in males) according to the 21-Item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21); and 9% according to the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). The prevalence of mild, moderate, and severe depression in nurses was 39%, 16%, and 20% according to the BDI; 8%, 24%, and 4% according to DASS-21; and 48%, 36%, and 16% according to GHQ-28, respectively. The prevalence of anxiety and stress was 85% and 67% in Beck’s inventory, 28% and 38% in DASS-21, and 46% and 49% in GHQ-28, respectively. CONCLUSION. According to the BDI and DASS-21, about one-third of Iranian nurses have depression with a female predilection. Nurses play an essential role in improving the quality of treatment; therefore, health policymakers must pay attention to reducing depression among nurses.

Validation of the Farsi Version of the Adult Concentration Inventory for Assessing Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome

“…It was also expected based on earlier studies that the unique association of CDS with ADHD-HI would be negative in the regression analysis (i.e., higher scores on CDS would be associated with lower scores on ADHD-HI after controlling for the overlap of CDS and ADHD-IN). For anxiety and stress, given the high overlap between symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress, at least among clinical samples other than individuals with CDS and ADHD [42][43][44], we expected that CDS would have a stronger correlation and unique association (partial regression coefficient) with anxiety and stress than ADHD-IN.…”

Depressive Symptoms among Nurses in Al Maamoura Psychiatric Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt

“…The review highlighted significant variability in reported prevalence of depressive symptoms among nurses, which underscores the impact of assessment tools on reported rates. (20) In comparison to the prevalence estimates of depressive disorders among the general population in Egypt (5.5%) as reported by the Global Burden of Disease study (2019), (3) the current rate of moderate/ severe depressive symptoms among psychiatric nurses (8.8%) indicates a higher magnitude of the problem among this sector of healthcare professionals. Regarding gender difference, Cheung and Yip (2016) found that female nurses had higher prevalence of depressive symptoms than male nurses (36.6% vs. 30.3% respectively), while moderate/ severe depression was nearly equal among them (23.7% vs. 23.6% respectively), and gender was not found to be a significant predictor for depressive symptoms.…”

“…In a more recent Egyptian study conducted by Ahmed et al, (2024) among psychiatric nurses in Sharkia Governorate reported that 66% of the studied nurses had depressive symptoms, where those mild/ moderate depression represented 48%, and 18% of nurses had severe depressive symptoms using BDI. (12) A recent systematic meta-analytic review of Iranian studies assessing prevalence of depression among nurses, conducted by Hemmati et al (2021), found that the prevalence of moderate/ severe depression was 36% according to the BDI, 28%, according to Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21, and 52% according to General Health Questionnaire-28. The review highlighted significant variability in reported prevalence of depressive symptoms among nurses, which underscores the impact of assessment tools on reported rates.…”

The TARGET Nurses' health cohort study protocol: Towards a revolution in getting nurses' health ticked

“…Shift work rotation, frequent contact of disinfectants, workplace bullying and other physical or psychological factors that affect health are often challenges they are facing at work (Dumas et al, 2021;James et al, 2021;Shorey & Wong, 2021;Yang et al, 2022). Studies have shown that the incidence of depression among nurses ranged from 27.7% to 52.5% which was as high as the prevalence of hypertension and hyperlipidemia (Alkebsi et al, 2018;Chang et al, 2011;Hemmati et al, 2021;Kim et al, 2017;Zheng et al, 2021). All of these health issues among nurses are associated with the deterioration of quality of care and poor patient outcomes (Brešan et al, 2021;Kritsotakis et al, 2022).…”