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The problem
Intervention: COVID-19 pandemic conditions (observational comparison of prepandemic vs pandemic periods)
Who it was tested with: 40,807 children and adolescents younger than 19 years across 53 cohort studies from 12 countries.
Children or communities are compared with a group that did not receive the intervention, or followed over years. This is the design that best separates what the intervention did from everything else that changed.
"In total, 53 longitudinal cohort studies from 12 countries with 87 study estimates representing 40 807 children and adolescents were included" with cohort data comparing prepandemic to pandemic estimates. This represents a meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies using standardized outcome measures to compare mental health before and during the pandemic, constituting experimental-level evidence through the systematic synthesis of multiple cohort designs.
The analysis is limited to studies published in English in peer-reviewed journals; heterogeneity across studies in measurement tools and timing of assessments; includes data from only 12 countries; cannot establish causality or identify specific pandemic-related mechanisms.
Across countries and designs
4 studies · 5 countries
