April 2023

Since early in 2020, the global pandemic of COVID-19 has had profound and damaging effects on the health of the world's population and severely disrupted education, trade, and many other aspects of human activity. Alongside concerted efforts to develop new vaccines and therapies, social distancing and lockdowns were widely implemented to interrupt viral transmission. Subsequently, the longer-term consequences of the pandemic owing to disrupted social connections and relationships across diverse societies and groups have raised concern and become an important area for study. In an Editorial, Guest Editors Vikram Patel, Daisy Fancourt, Toshi A. Furukawa and Lola Kola discuss PLOS Medicine's Special Issue focussed on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health.

Image Credit: Taylor Deas-Melesh/Unsplash

Editorials

Multimorbidity: Addressing the next global pandemic

The PLOS Medicine Editors

PLOS Medicine: published April 4, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004229

Reimagining the journey to recovery: The COVID-19 pandemic and global mental health

Vikram Patel, Daisy Fancourt, Toshi A. Furukawa, Lola Kola

PLOS Medicine: published April 24, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004224

Perspectives

COVID-19 and mental health: Building back better or reimagining a new way forward?

Mark Tomlinson, Marguerite Marlow

PLOS Medicine: published April 6, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004216

Mental disorders and COVID-19 deaths: Clinical, public health, and human rights implications

Shekhar Saxena, Cindy Chwa

PLOS Medicine: published April 11, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004220

Investigating time-dependent COVID-19 pandemic mental health data: Challenges and opportunities of using panel data analysis

Mariana Pinto da Costa, Robert Stewart

PLOS Medicine: published April 18, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004219

Research Articles

The impact of varying the number and selection of conditions on estimated multimorbidity prevalence: A cross-sectional study using a large, primary care population dataset

Clare MacRae, Megan McMinn, Stewart W. Mercer, David Henderson, David A. McAllister, Iris Ho, Emily Jefferson, Daniel R. Morales, Jane Lyons, Ronan A. Lyons, Chris Dibben, Bruce Guthrie

PLOS Medicine: published April 4, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004208

Estimating health spending associated with chronic multimorbidity in 2018: An observational study among adults in the United States

Angela Y. Chang, Dana Bryazka, Joseph L. Dieleman

PLOS Medicine: published April 4, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004205

Long-term psychological distress trajectories and the COVID-19 pandemic in three British birth cohorts: A multi-cohort study

Darío Moreno-Agostino, Helen L. Fisher, Alissa Goodman, Stephani L. Hatch, Craig Morgan, Marcus Richards, Jayati Das-Munshi, George B. Ploubidis

PLOS Medicine: published April 4, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004145

Impact of point-of-care ultrasound and routine third trimester ultrasound on undiagnosed breech presentation and perinatal outcomes: An observational multicentre cohort study

Samantha Knights, Smriti Prasad, Erkan Kalafat, Anahita Dadali, Pam Sizer, Francoise Harlow, Asma Khalil

PLOS Medicine: published April 6, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004192

Infant feeding method and special educational need in 191,745 Scottish schoolchildren: A national, population cohort study

Lisa J. Adams, Jill P. Pell, Daniel F. Mackay, David Clark, Albert King, Michael Fleming

PLOS Medicine: published April 6, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004191

COVID-19 and mental health in 8 low- and middle-income countries: A prospective cohort study

Nursena Aksunger, Corey Vernot, Rebecca Littman, Maarten Voors, Niccolò F. Meriggi, Amanuel Abajobir, Bernd Beber, Katherine Dai, Dennis Egger, Asad Islam, Jocelyn Kelly, Arjun Kharel, Amani Matabaro, Andrés Moya, Pheliciah Mwachofi, Carolyn Nekesa, Eric Ochieng, Tabassum Rahman, Alexandra Scacco, Yvonne van Dalen, Michael Walker, Wendy Janssens, Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak

PLOS Medicine: published April 6, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004081

Mortality in children under 5 years of age with congenital syphilis in Brazil: A nationwide cohort study

Enny S. Paixao, Andrêa JF Ferreira, Idália Oliveira dos Santos, Laura C. Rodrigues, Rosemeire Fiaccone, Leonardo Salvi, Guilherme Lopes de Oliveira, José Guilherme Santana, Andrey Moreira Cardoso, Carlos Antônio de S. S. Teles, Maria Auxiliadora Soares, Eliana Amaral, Liam Smeeth, Mauricio L. Barreto, Maria Yury Ichihara

PLOS Medicine: published April 7, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004209

The COVID-19 pandemic and health-related quality of life across 13 high- and low-middle-income countries: A cross-sectional analysis

Mara Violato, Jack Pollard, Andrew Lloyd, Laurence S. J. Roope, Raymond Duch, Matias Fuentes Becerra, Philip M. Clarke

PLOS Medicine: published April 11, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004146

The association between cognitive ability and body mass index: A sibling-comparison analysis in four longitudinal studies

Liam Wright, Neil M. Davies, David Bann

PLOS Medicine: published April 13, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004207

Evaluation of a community health worker home visit intervention to improve child development in South Africa: A cluster-randomized controlled trial

Peter C. Rockers, Jukka M. Leppänen, Amanda Tarullo, Lezanie Coetzee, Günther Fink, Davidson H. Hamer, Aisha K. Yousafzai, Denise Evans

PLOS Medicine: published April 14, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004222

Prevalence and characteristics of long COVID in elderly patients: An observational cohort study of over 2 million adults in the US

Kin Wah Fung, Fitsum Baye, Seo H. Baik, Zhaonian Zheng, Clement J. McDonald

PLOS Medicine: published April 17, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004194

Evaluation of the sugar-sweetened beverage tax in Oakland, United States, 2015–2019: A quasi-experimental and cost-effectiveness study

Justin S. White, Sanjay Basu, Scott Kaplan, Kristine A. Madsen, Sofia B. Villas-Boas, Dean Schillinger

PLOS Medicine: published April 18, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004212

Mental health and addiction health service use by physicians compared to non-physicians before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A population-based cohort study in Ontario, Canada

Daniel T. Myran, Rhiannon Roberts, Eric McArthur, Nivethika Jeyakumar, Jennifer M. Hensel, Claire Kendall, Caroline Gerin-Lajoie, Taylor McFadden, Christopher Simon, Amit X. Garg, Manish M. Sood, Peter Tanuseputro

PLOS Medicine: published April 18, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004187

Depressive and anxiety symptoms in adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in England: A panel data analysis over 2 years

Feifei Bu, Andrew Steptoe, Daisy Fancourt

PLOS Medicine: published April 18, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004144

The association between antihypertensive treatment and serious adverse events by age and frailty: A cohort study

James P. Sheppard, Constantinos Koshiaris, Richard Stevens, Sarah Lay-Flurrie, Amitava Banerjee, Brandon K. Bellows, Andrew Clegg, F. D. Richard Hobbs, Rupert A. Payne, Subhashisa Swain, Juliet A. Usher-Smith, Richard J. McManus

PLOS Medicine: published April 19, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004223

Impact on childhood mortality of interventions to improve drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) to households: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Hugh Sharma Waddington, Edoardo Masset, Sarah Bick, Sandy Cairncross

PLOS Medicine: published April 20, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004215

The impact of community-based, peer-led sexual and reproductive health services on knowledge of HIV status among adolescents and young people aged 15 to 24 in Lusaka, Zambia: The Yathu Yathu cluster-randomised trial

Bernadette Hensen, Sian Floyd, Mwelwa M. Phiri, Ab Schaap, Lucheka Sigande, Melvin Simuyaba, Lawrence Mwenge, Rosemary Zulu-Phiri, Louis Mwape, Sarah Fidler, Richard Hayes, Musonda Simwinga, Helen Ayles

PLOS Medicine: published April 21, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004203

Association between antenatal diagnosis of late fetal growth restriction and educational outcomes in mid-childhood: A UK prospective cohort study with long-term data linkage study

Laurentya Olga, Ulla Sovio, Hilary Wong, Gordon Smith, Catherine Aiken

PLOS Medicine: published April 24, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004225

Depression and anxiety in people with cognitive impairment and dementia during the COVID-19 pandemic: Analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Brian Beach, Andrew Steptoe, Paola Zaninotto

PLOS Medicine: published April 24, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004162

COVID-19 and common mental health symptoms in the early phase of the pandemic: An umbrella review of the evidence

Anke B. Witteveen, Susanne Y. Young, Pim Cuijpers, José Luis Ayuso-Mateos, Corrado Barbui, Federico Bertolini, Maria Cabello, Camilla Cadorin, Naomi Downes, Daniele Franzoi, Michael Gasior, Brandon Gray, Maria Melchior, Mark van Ommeren, Christina Palantza, Marianna Purgato, Judith van der Waerden, Siyuan Wang, Marit Sijbrandij

PLOS Medicine: published April 25, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004206

A nutritional biomarker score of the Mediterranean diet and incident type 2 diabetes: Integrated analysis of data from the MedLey randomised controlled trial and the EPIC-InterAct case-cohort study

Jakub G. Sobiecki, Fumiaki Imamura, Courtney R. Davis, Stephen J. Sharp, Albert Koulman, Jonathan M. Hodgson, Marcela Guevara, Matthias B. Schulze, Ju-Sheng Zheng, Claudia Agnoli, Catalina Bonet, Sandra M. Colorado-Yohar, Guy Fagherazzi, Paul W. Franks, Thomas E. Gundersen, Franziska Jannasch, Rudolf Kaaks, Verena Katzke, Esther Molina-Montes, Peter M. Nilsson, Domenico Palli, Salvatore Panico, Keren Papier, Olov Rolandsson, Carlotta Sacerdote, Anne Tjønneland, Tammy Y. N. Tong, Yvonne T. van der Schouw, John Danesh, Adam S. Butterworth, Elio Riboli, Karen J. Murphy, Nicholas J. Wareham, Nita G. Forouhi

PLOS Medicine: published April 27, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004221

Home working and social and mental wellbeing at different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: Evidence from 7 longitudinal population surveys

Jacques Wels, Bożena Wielgoszewska, Bettina Moltrecht, Charlotte Booth, Michael J. Green, Olivia KL Hamilton, Evangelia Demou, Giorgio Di Gessa, Charlotte Huggins, Jingmin Zhu, Gillian Santorelli, Richard J. Silverwood, Daniel Kopasker, Richard J. Shaw, Alun Hughes, Praveetha Patalay, Claire Steves, Nishi Chaturvedi, David J. Porteous, Rebecca Rhead, Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi, George B. Ploubidis

PLOS Medicine: published April 27, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004214

Inequalities in provision of hip and knee replacement surgery for osteoarthritis by age, sex, and social deprivation in England between 2007–2017: A population-based cohort study of the National Joint Registry

Erik Lenguerrand, Yoav Ben-Shlomo, Amar Rangan, Andrew Beswick, Michael R. Whitehouse, Kevin Deere, Adrian Sayers, Ashley W. Blom, Andrew Judge

PLOS Medicine: published April 27, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004210

Corrections

Correction: Effects of a WHO-guided digital health intervention for depression in Syrian refugees in Lebanon: A randomized controlled trial

Pim Cuijpers, Eva Heim, Jinane Abi Ramia, Sebastian Burchert, Kenneth Carswell, Ilja Cornelisz, Christine Knaevelsrud, Philip Noun, Chris van Klaveren, Edith van’t Hof, Edwina Zoghbi, Mark van Ommeren, Rabih El Chammay

PLOS Medicine: published April 14, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004231

Correction: Gestational age at birth and body size from infancy through adolescence: An individual participant data meta-analysis on 253,810 singletons in 16 birth cohort studies

Johan L. Vinther, Tim Cadman, Demetris Avraam, Claus T. Ekstrøm, Thorkild I. A. Sørensen, Ahmed Elhakeem, Ana C. Santos, Angela Pinot de Moira, Barbara Heude, Carmen Iñiguez, Costanza Pizzi, Elinor Simons, Ellis Voerman, Eva Corpeleijn, Faryal Zariouh, Gilian Santorelli, Hazel M. Inskip, Henrique Barros, Jennie Carson, Jennifer R. Harris, Johanna L. Nader, Justiina Ronkainen, Katrine Strandberg-Larsen, Loreto Santa-Marina, Lucinda Calas, Luise Cederkvist, Maja Popovic, Marie-Aline Charles, Marieke Welten, Martine Vrijheid, Meghan Azad, Padmaja Subbarao, Paul Burton, Puishkumar J. Mandhane, Rae-Chi Huang, Rebecca C. Wilson, Sido Haakma, Sílvia Fernández-Barrés, Stuart Turvey, Susana Santos, Suzanne C. Tough, Sylvain Sebert, Theo J. Moraes, Theodosia Salika, Vincent W. V. Jaddoe, Deborah A. Lawlor, Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen

PLOS Medicine: published April 18, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004232

Correction: Health worker compliance with severe malaria treatment guidelines in the context of implementing pre-referral rectal artesunate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and Uganda: An operational study

Aita Signorell, Phyllis Awor, Jean Okitawutshu, Antoinette Tshefu, Elizabeth Omoluabi, Manuel W. Hetzel, Proscovia Athieno, Joseph Kimera, Gloria Tumukunde, Irene Angiro, Jean-Claude Kalenga, Babatunde K. Akano, Kazeem Ayodeji, Charles Okon, Ocheche Yusuf, Giulia Delvento, Tristan T. Lee, Nina C. Brunner, Mark J. Lambiris, James Okuma, Nadja Cereghetti, Valentina Buj, Theodoor Visser, Harriet G. Napier, Christian Lengeler, Christian Burri

PLOS Medicine: published April 26, 2023 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004234

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