Prevalence of mental health and behaviour problems among adolescents in the English-speaking Caribbean: systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective Children and young people (CYP) from low-and-middle-income and developing countries are at risk of poor mental health and wellbeing. Yet these regions are generally under-resourced in terms of mental health services. As a first step to inform service planning and delivery in the English-speaking Caribbean we pooled the available evidence to estimate the prevalence of common mental health problems. Methods A comprehensive search of CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, LILACS, and Web of Science databases, supplemented by grey literature searches was performed until January 2022. Studies conducted in the English-speaking Caribbean that reported prevalence estimates of mental health symptomology or diagnoses in CYP were included. The Freeman-Tukey transformation was applied to calculate the weighted summary prevalence under a random-effects model. Subgroup analyses were also performed to observe emerging patterns in the data. Studies were quality assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Prevalence Critical Appraisal Checklist and the GRADE approach. The study protocol was registered with PROSPERO, CRD42021283161. Results 33 publications from 28 studies representing 65,034 adolescents from 14 countries met the eligibility criteria. Prevalence estimates ranged from 0.8 to 71.9% with most subgroup estimates between 20 and 30%. The overall pooled prevalence of mental health problems was 23.5% (95% CI 0.175–0.302; I2 = 99.7%). There was limited evidence of significant variation in prevalence estimates among subgroups. The quality of the body of evidence was judged as moderate. Conclusion It is estimated that between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 adolescents in the English-speaking Caribbean experience symptoms of mental health problems. These findings highlight the importance of sensitisation, screening, and provision of appropriate services. Ongoing research identifying risk factors and validating outcome measures is also needed to inform evidence-based practice.

Prevalencia de trastornos mentales comunes en indígenas de cinco departamentos de Paraguay

“…Sánchez Moreno et al, en 2020 encontró que la prevalencia de TMC en la población general de Paraguay era del 29,5 % (5) . Borges et al, utilizó el SRQ-20 para evaluar la salud mental de una muestra de 1.500 adultos paraguayos (4) . Estos estudios sugieren que la prevalencia de TMC en Paraguay es elevada.…”

“…Los resultados de este estudio muestran que la prevalencia de trastornos mentales comunes (TMC) en indígenas de Paraguay es elevada. El SRQ+, un instrumento de tamizaje para TMC, fue del 25,80 % (2,4,5) . Esto significa que uno de cada cuatro indígenas encuestados presentaba síntomas de TMC.…”

“…De acuerdo a los datos de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) encontró que los TMC representan el 13 % de la carga de enfermedad global (1)(2)(3) , y se caracterizan por un malestar significativo o deterioro en el funcionamiento social, laboral o de otras áreas importantes de la vida. Los TMC son los trastornos mentales más prevalentes en el mundo, y afectan a aproximadamente un tercio de la población mundial (1,4) .…”

“…Los indígenas de Paraguay son un grupo vulnerable a los TMC debido a una serie de factores, entre los que se incluyen la marginación social y económica (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) , la discriminación (4,5) , la pérdida de identidad cultural (6,7) y el acceso limitado a los servicios de salud (1,8) .…”

“…Borges G et al, en 2020 encontró que la prevalencia de los TMC en la población indígena era del 35,7 % (4) . Esta prevalencia es significativamente mayor que la de la población general de Paraguay.…”