Prevalence and Associated Factors for Elevated Depressive Symptoms in 386,924 Primary Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic Normalization in China

Abstract

We aimed to assess the prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms and its associated factors during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic among primary students in China. We included 386,924 students aged 6–12 years from three cities in Henan province, China, over the period 21–27 May 2021. The overall prevalence of depressive symptoms was 5.8%. Participants with high depressive symptoms were more likely to be senior urban primary students, and exhibited an insignificant increase in hand washing frequency, non-mask wearing behavior, higher error rates of cognition tests, and greater levels of worry and fear. The associated factors for high depressive symptoms were found to include age, sex, grade, location, worry level, fear level, cognitive status, and change in lifestyle after gaining knowledge about COVID-19. Our results suggest that governments need to focus on factors affecting the mental health of school-age children while combating COVID-19, as it would facilitate better decision making on the international and national level.