We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
To save content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about saving content to .
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
The severity of COVID-19 remains high worldwide. Therefore, millions of individuals are likely to suffer from fear of COVID-19 and related mental health factors.
Aims
The present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to synthesize empirical evidence to understand fear of COVID-19 and its associations with mental health-related problems during this pandemic period.
Method
Relevant studies were searched for on five databases (Scopus, ProQuest, EMBASE, PubMed Central, and ISI Web of Knowledge), using relevant terms (COVID-19-related fear, anxiety, depression, mental health-related factors, mental well-being and sleep problems). All studies were included for analyses irrespective of their methodological quality, and the impact of quality on pooled effect size was examined by subgroup analysis.
Results
The meta-analysis pooled data from 91 studies comprising 88 320 participants (mean age 38.88 years; 60.66% females) from 36 countries. The pooled estimated mean of fear of COVID-19 was 13.11 (out of 35), using the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. The associations between fear of COVID-19 and mental health-related factors were mostly moderate (Fisher's z = 0.56 for mental health-related factors; 0.54 for anxiety; 0.42 for stress; 0.40 for depression; 0.29 for sleep problems and –0.24 for mental well-being). Methodological quality did not affect these associations.
Conclusions
Fear of COVID-19 has associations with various mental health-related factors. Therefore, programmes for reducing fear of COVID-19 and improving mental health are needed.
Depression is an important cause of disability in the United States (US). The care experience of major depressive disorder (MDD) is highly variable and has only been documented to a limited degree. This study examines the prevalence incidence and treatment patterns for MDD in the US general population.
Methods
In this longitudinal study 2 interview waves were conducted between 2002 and 2015. The initial wave (W1) was carried out with 12,218 individuals from the general population in 8 US states with participants aged 18 years or older. In the second wave (W2) 10,931 of the initial participants agreed to be interviewed again 3 years later; the analyses were carried out for individuals who participated in both interviews (N=10,931). Diagnosis of MDD was confirmed according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria.
Results
The 3-year incidence of MDD was 3.4% (95% CI 3.1%–3.7%). The prevalence of MDD was 5.1% (95% CI 4.7%–5.5%) and 4.2% (95% CI 3.8%–4.6%) in W1 and W2, respectively. The percentages of participants who achieved partial and complete remission were 4.4% (95% CI 4.0%–4.8%) and 3.9% (95% CI 3.5%–4.3%) in W1 compared with 7.9% (95% CI 7.4%–8.4%) and 4.4% (95% CI 4.0%–4.8%) in W2, respectively. The prevalence of MDD was 13.4% and 16.5% in W1 and W2, respectively, when including participants with MDD partial and complete remission episodes. 61.9% of participants with an MDD diagnosis in W1 had at least one associated comorbidity. 41.8% of participants with an MDD diagnosis at W1 still reported significant depressive symptoms at W2. 19.9% of participants in partial remission and 5.5% of participants in complete remission in W1 did not achieve remission in W2. 52.2% and 42.9% of participants with MDD were treated with an antidepressant (AD) in W1 and W2, respectively; selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were the most commonly prescribed (34.7% in W1 vs 28.3% in W2). ADs were mainly prescribed by primary care physicians (45.7%) followed by psychiatrists (31.4%), neurologists (2.5%), and other specialties (7.9%). The average duration of treatment was 36.9 (SE 2.4) months. More than one-third of AD users in W1 expressed dissatisfaction with their AD treatment which translated into changes in types of antidepressant in W2.
Conclusion
Depression affects a sizable part of the general population in the US with a prevalence of MDD at 13.4%–16.5%; yet MDD remains largely undertreated as shown by the finding that only about half (52%) of individuals in this study who met the diagnostic criteria for MDD were treated with an antidepressant (SSRI being the most common treatment). In addition, more than a quarter of patients with MDD in this study did not achieve remission after initial treatment underscoring the challenges in successful antidepressant treatment of MDD.
Funding
Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A. Inc. and Lundbeck LLC
This chapter presents a summary of excessive sleepiness definitions used in epidemiological studies. Studying prevalence, incidence and risk factors for excessive daytime sleepiness bears little impact on the development of new treatments for this symptom. Three sleep disorders are characterized by excessive sleepiness and are divided into 12 diagnoses: hypersomnia, behaviorally induced insufficient sleep syndrome, and narcolepsy. Hypersomnia and behaviorally induced insufficient sleep syndrome are virtually undocumented in the general population. Excessive sleepiness can be caused by various factors such as poor sleep hygiene, work conditions, and psychotropic medication use. Excessive sleepiness has been found to be associated also with sleep-disordered breathing, psychiatric disorders, especially depression, and physical illnesses. Excessive sleep quantity is an associated symptom in depressive disorders in the DSM-IV classification. Several clinical studies have also pointed out the high occurrence of subjective excessive sleepiness in association with mental disorders, organic disorders, or both.
Arousal parasomnias occur mainly during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. This group consists of confusional arousals, sleepwalking and sleep terrors. Sleepwalking and sleep terrors can be triggered by stress, sleep deprivation, alcohol ingestion, and almost all sedative medications. This group of parasomnias is composed of three disorders occurring essentially during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Sleep paralysis is one of the main symptoms associated with narcolepsy, but it can also occur individually. REM sleep behavior disorder is characterized by a loss of generalized skeletal muscle REM-related atonia and the presence of physical dreamenactment. Polysomnographic recordings of individuals with RBD showed a reduction of the tonic phenomena of REM sleep and the activation of the phasic phenomena. Parasomnias are frequent in the general population; more than 30% of individuals experiences at least one type of parasomnia. At the genetic level, there is growing evidence that many parasomnias have a genetic component.
The complex nature of insomnia and its relationship with organic and mental disorders render diagnosis problematic for epidemiologists and physicians.
Method
A representative UK sample (non-institutionalised, > 14 years old) was interviewed by telephone (n=4972; 79.6% participation rate) with the Sleep-EVAL system. Subjects fell into three groups according to presence of insomnia symptom (s) and/or sleep dissatisfaction.
Results
Insomnia symptoms occurred in 36.2% of subjects. Most of these (75.9%), however, reported no sleep dissatisfaction. In comparison, those also with sleep dissatisfaction had higher prevalence of sleep and mental disorders and longer duration of insomnia symptoms, and were more likely to take sleep-promoting medication, dread bedtime, and complain of light sleep, poor night-time sleep and daytime sleepiness.
Conclusions
Insomnia sufferers differ as to whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with sleep. Although insomnia symptoms are common in the general population, sleep disturbances among sleep-dissatisfied individuals are more severe. Sleep dissatisfaction seems a better indicator of sleep pathology than insomnia symptoms.
Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations are common in narcolepsy. However, the prevalence of these phenomena in the general population is uncertain.
Method
A representative community sample of 4972 people in the UK, aged 15–100, was interviewed by telephone (79.6% of those contacted). Interviews were performed by lay interviewers using a computerised system that guided the interviewer through the interview process.
Results
Thirty-seven per cent of the sample reported experiencing hypnagogic hallucinations and 12.5% reported hypnopompic hallucinations. Both types of hallucinations were significantly more common among subjects with symptoms of insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness or mental disorders. According to this study, the prevalence of narcolepsy in the UK is 0.04%.
Conclusions
Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations were much more common than expected, with a prevalence that far exceeds that which can be explained by the association with narcolepsy. Hypnopompic hallucinations may be a better indicator of narcolepsy than hypnagogic hallucinations in subjects reporting excessive daytime sleepiness.
Recommend this
Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this to your organisation's collection.