Depression prevalence in Vietnam during the Covid-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: As of 10 October 2021, Vietnam has recorded 835,036 locally acquired Covid-19 cases including 20,520 fatalities. In response to the coronavirus illness outbreak Vietnam adopted a number of public health measures including contact tracing and testing mandatory quarantine and lockdowns. Lockdown measures during the Covid-19 pandemic are demonstrated to negatively impact psychological and mental health problems such as depression. However, the magnitude of these psychological impacts on Vietnamese during the epidemic has remained unknown.

Objectives: Thus, we have determined that it is necessary to perform this meta-analysis to better understand a comprehensive range of the prevalence of depression during the pandemic in Vietnam.

Methods: To find relevant articles we followed the PRISMA guidelines and searched MEDLINE Scopus and PubMed from their inception to October 01 2021 confined to English language publications. The Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist was used to determine the possibility of bias. We pooled the included studies using the Random effect model in MedCalc version 20.014. Cochran's Q heterogeneity test and I² were used to determine statistical heterogeneity.

Results: Out of 110 articles 13 articles comprising of 27,216 participants were selected. Our meta-analysis revealed that the pooled prevalence of depression was 14.636% (95% CI: 11.521-18.054% I2 = 97.98% P < 0.0001). And depression is more prevalent among health workers than among non-health workers.

Conclusions: Our systematic review and meta-analysis revealed that the Vietnamese population was burdened by depression during the Covid-19 pandemic which we believe is a significant finding especially in healthcare workers. If these mental health disorders are not addressed promptly the community may suffer significant long-term mental social and economic consequences.