SynthesisJournal of public health (Oxford, England)2021
COVID-19 pandemic: health impact of staying at home, social distancing and 'lockdown' measures-a systematic review of systematic reviews.
Synthesis in Journal of public health (Oxford, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 98 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
98 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Interventions promoting occupational balance in adults: A systematic literature review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring the association between social support and anxiety during major public emergencies: a meta-analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Remote mental health care interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic: An umbrella review.Behaviour research and therapy · 2022Pooled it
- Physical Activity During Lockdowns Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-analysis of 173 Studies with 320,636 Participants.Sports medicine - open · 2022Pooled it
- A systematic review of the international evolution of online mental health strategies and recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy of the FIBROWALK Multicomponent Program Moved to a Virtual Setting for Patients with Fibromyalgia during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Proof-of-Concept RCT Performed Alongside the State of Alarm in Spain.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Association of pandemic-era US county-level policies with adult health and health behaviors.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Mobile Health Interventions to Support Patients With Dementia During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.Health science reports · 2026Review
- Saudi Medical Students' Perceptions and Attitudes of Integrating Generative Artificial Intelligence Integration in Medical Education: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Identifying recruitment and enrollment barriers in home-based acute care: findings from a regional pilot program in Northern Taiwan.BMC health services research · 2026Observational
- Utilisation of mental health services before, during, and after COVID-19 restrictions: interrupted time-series analysis in England.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Difficulties in adherence to social distancing and quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons from a longitudinal study comparing migrants and non-migrants in a city in Norway.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Physical Activity Prevalence and Sex-Associated Factors Among University Students During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A network analysis of the associations between COVID-19-related variables and health across sex, age and educational levels among Ghanaian youths.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The People versus Behavioral Science: Alignment between lay and scientific understanding of compliance.PloS one · 2026Article
- Psychological resilience trajectories after the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of lifestyle and psychosocial factors in a cohort at increased alzheimer's disease risk.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Disability-based disparities under universal health coverage among chronically ill adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia: an interrupted time series analysis.Global health action · 2025Article
- Impact of COVID-19 after lung transplantation: A retrospective multicenter comparison of clinical outcomes in Denmark and Sweden.JHLT open · 2025Article
- Collecting behavioural data across countries during pandemics: Development of the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Tool.Behavior research methods · 2025Article
- Tuberculosis Trends in the Post-COVID-19 Era: Is It Going to be a Global Concern?Health science reports · 2025Article
38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTo systematically review the evidence published in systematic reviews (SR) on the health impact of staying at home, social distancing and lockdown measures. We followed a systematic review approach, in line with PRISMA guidelines.
methodsIn October 2020, we searched the databases Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase and Web of Science, using a pre-defined search strategy.
resultsThe literature search yielded an initial list of 2172 records. After screening of titles and abstracts, followed by full-text screening, 51 articles were retained and included in the analysis. All of them referred to the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The direct health impact that was covered in the greatest number (25) of SR related to mental health, followed by 13 SR on healthcare delivery and 12 on infection control. The predominant areas of indirect health impacts covered by the included studies relate to the economic and social impacts. Only three articles mentioned the negative impact on education.
conclusionsThe focus of SR so far has been uneven, with mental health receiving the most attention. The impact of measures to contain the spread of the virus can be direct and indirect, having both intended and unintended consequences. HIGHLIGHTS:
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.