Prevalence of Anxiety in University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Shefali Liyanage, Kiran Saqib, Amber Fozia Khan, Tijhiana Rose Thobani, Wang-Choi Tang, Cameron B. Chiarot, Bara’ Abdallah AlShurman and Zahid Ahmad Butt
Additional contact information
Shefali Liyanage: School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Kiran Saqib: School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Amber Fozia Khan: School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Tijhiana Rose Thobani: School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Wang-Choi Tang: School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Cameron B. Chiarot: School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Bara’ Abdallah AlShurman: School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Zahid Ahmad Butt: School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: There is a dearth of evidence synthesis on the prevalence of anxiety among university students even though the risk of psychological disorders among this population is quite high. We conducted a quantitative systematic review to estimate the global prevalence of anxiety among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. A systematic search for cross-sectional studies on PubMed, Scopus, and PsycINFO, using PRISMA guidelines, was conducted from September 2020 to February 2021. A total of 36 studies were included, using a random-effects model to calculate the pooled proportion of anxiety. A meta-analysis of the prevalence estimate of anxiety yielded a summary prevalence of 41% (95% CI = 0.34–0.49), with statistically significant evidence of between-study heterogeneity (Q = 80801.97, I 2 = 100%, p ≤ 0.0001). A subgroup analysis reported anxiety prevalence in Asia as 33% (95% CI:0.25–0.43), the prevalence of anxiety in Europe as 51% (95% CI: 0.44–0.59), and the highest prevalence of anxiety in the USA as 56% (95% CI: 0.44–0.67). A subgroup gender-based analysis reported the prevalence of anxiety in females as 43% (95% CI:0.29–0.58) compared to males with an anxiety prevalence of 39% (95% CI:0.29–0.50). University students seem to have a high prevalence of anxiety, indicating an increased mental health burden during this pandemic.

Keywords: university students; COVID-19; anxiety; stress; mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/62/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/62/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:62-:d:708298

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().