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COVID-19 Anxiety and Psychological Interventions in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 September 2025
Abstract
Objectives
The symptoms of anxiety in the outbreak of COVID-19 were so severe that they entered the research literature as the term COVID-19 anxiety. This systematic review and meta-analysis study aimed to identify the variables related to COVID-19 anxiety and the effectiveness of psychological interventions on it.
Methods
In the present systematic review and meta-analysis, the literature was systematically searched in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, ISI, and Persian databases such as Noormags and SID on COVID-19 anxiety from January 2020 to April 2022. In the initial search, 105 articles were found. In the data correlation section, 13 studies for the fixed effects model were meta-analyzed. In the interventional section, 14 articles were selected. The systematic review data were extracted, and all statistical data were analyzed by CMA-2.
Results
The results of the meta-analyses for psychopathological correlations with COVID-19 anxiety in 13 articles indicated the correlation between COVID-19 anxiety and other mental states and disorders (P = .0001/I2 = 97.27%). Other findings demonstrated the effect of psychological interventions on COVID-19 anxiety in 14 articles with high effectiveness of these treatments (P = .00/I2 = 85.67%).
Conclusions
It seems COVID-19 anxiety is affected by psychological variables. Hence, psychological interventions represent effective treatments for anxiety due to COVID-19.
Information
- Type
- Systematic Review
- Information
- Copyright
- © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc
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