Impact of COVID-19 on health-related quality of life in the general population: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

The World Health Organization declared coronavirus disease of 2019 as an epidemic and public health emergency of international concern on January 30th, 2020. Different factors during a pandemic can contribute to low quality of life in the general population. Quality of life is considered multidimensional and subjective and is assessed by using patient reported outcome measures. The aim and objective of this review is to assess the impact of coronavirus disease of 2019 and associated factors on the Quality of Life in the general population. This review was conducted and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. A protocol was registered in the international Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews database(CRD42021269897). A comprehensive electronic search in PubMed, EBSCO Host Research Databases, MEDLINE and Google scholar search engine was conducted. A total number of 1,7000,074 articles were identified from electronic search. 25 full text articles were retained for qualitative synthesis and seventeen articles for quantitative analysis. Seven main quality of life scales were used to assess the quality of life of the general population; World Health Organization Quality of Life-bref, EuroQuality of Life-Five dimensions, Short Form, European Quality of Life Survey, coronavirus disease of 2019 Quality of Life, General Health Questionnaire12 and My Life Today Questionnaire. The mean World Health Organization Quality of Life-brief was found to be 53.38% 95% confidence interval [38.50-68.27] and EuroQuality of Life-Five dimensions was 0.89 95% confidence interval [0.69-1.07]. Several factors have been linked to the Coronavirus disease of 2019 such as sociodemographic factors, peoples living with chronic diseases, confinement and financial constraints. This review confirms that the Coronavirus disease of 2019 pandemic affected the quality of life of the general population worldwide. Several factors such as sociodemographic, peoples living with chronic diseases, confinement and financial constraints affected the quality of life.

Fig 1. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses (PRISMA) flow diagram.

Fig 2. Mean score using WHOQoL-BREF forest plot.

Study1 [7], study2 [31], Study3 [33], Study4 [35], Study5 [7], Study6 [37], Study 7 [32], Study8 [41], study 9 [50]. The mean health related quality of life using WHOQoL_BREF is estimated at 53.38.

Fig 3. Mean score using EQ5D forest plot.

Study 1 [25], Study2 [43], Study3 [43], Study4 [22], Study5 [36], Study6 [23], Study7 [27], Study8 [28].

Fig 4. WHOQoL-BREF funnel plot.

Study1 [7], study2 [31], Study3 [33], Study4 [35], Study5 [7], Study6 [37], Study 7 [32], Study8 [41], study 9 [50].

Fig 5. EQ5D funnel plot.

Study 1 [25], Study2 [43], Study3 [43], Study4 [22], Study5 [36], Study6 [23], Study7 [27], Study8 [28].