Prevalence of depression and depressive symptoms among intensive care nurses: A meta‐analysis

Background Nurses in intensive care units (ICUs) experience more stressful workplace conditions, making them more vulnerable to high levels of depression compared with those working in other healthcare settings. Objectives This meta‐analysis aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of depression in ICU nurses. Methods A systematic search was conducted in Medline, EMBASE, CINHO, and Web of Science databases. Studies that reported depression among ICU nurses measured by a validated tool were synthesized using a random‐effects model. Differences in prevalence of depression by study‐level characteristics were estimated using sub‐group analysis. Heterogeneity was investigated using standard Chi‐squared tests and the I2 statistic. Results Data were extracted from 19 cross‐sectional studies (2003‐2020) from 11 countries involving 7196 ICU nurses. The overall pooled prevalence of depression or depressive symptoms among ICU nurses was 24.99% (95% CI, 17.9%‐32.7%) with high between‐study heterogeneity (χ2 = 812, τ2 = 0.03, I2 = 98%, P