The prevalence of common mental disorders, stress, and sleep disturbance among international migrant workers: A meta-analysis with subgroup analysis.

International migrant workers face an elevated risk of common mental disorders (CMDs), stress, and sleep disturbances due to various individual, psychosocial, and occupational factors. This meta-analysis systematically evaluated the prevalence of CMDs, stress, and sleep disturbance among international migrant workers. Two independent reviewers systematically searched the literature on five electronic databases from inception to June 2022. Random effects meta-analyses were performed to estimate the pooled prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, stress, and sleep disturbance among international migrant workers. Additionally, subgroup analyses were conducted to examine potential modifiers for the prevalence rates. Of 8461 records, 57 studies (n = 29,481) were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence rates of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, stress, and sleep disturbance were 20.3 %, 17.8 %, 17.3 %, and 25.3 %, respectively. Subgroup analyses revealed that the prevalence of CMDs and stress was statistically significantly modified by country of destination and type of work, stress by gender and country of origin, and anxiety by migration type. Potential publication bias was observed only in the meta-analysis of stress. Most of the studies included were of moderate to high methodological quality. However, given that the included studies were predominantly cross-sectional and used non-probability sampling, the results should be interpreted with caution. This meta-analysis highlights that CMDs, stress, and sleep disturbances are prevalent among international migrant workers, posing a significant public health concern for host countries. These findings underscore the urgent need for tailored mental health interventions for specific subgroups within this population.