Prevalence of grief symptoms and disorders in the time of COVID-19 pandemic: A meta-analysis

Millions of people worldwide are mourning the loss of loved ones due to the COVID-19 epidemic, which may adversely impact their mental health. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate pandemic grief symptoms and disorders for developing policy, practice, and research priorities. The databases of Cochrane, Embase, Ovid-MEDLINE, WHO COVID-19, NCBI SARS-CoV-2, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Science Direct were comprehensively searched until July 31, 2022. The Joanna Briggs Institute's and Hoy's criteria were used to evaluate the studies. A pooled prevalence was presented in a forest plot figure with a corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) and prediction interval. Between-study heterogeneity was measured using the I2 and Q statistics. Variations in the prevalence estimates in different subgroups were examined by moderator meta-analysis. The search identified 3677 citations, of which 15 studies involving 9289 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence rate of grief symptoms was 45.1% (95%CI: 32.6%–57.5%), and grief disorder was 46.4% (95%CI: 37.4%–55.5%). Grief symptoms were significantly higher in