1 in 5 people develop mental illness within 3 months of positive COVID-19 test: study

Many COVID-19 survivors are likely to be at increased risk of developing mental illness, psychiatrists said Monday after a large study found that 20% of people infected with the coronavirus are diagnosed with psychiatric disorder in 90 days.

Anxiety, depression, and insomnia were more common among COVID-19 patients cured in the study who developed mental health problems, and the researchers also found significantly higher risks of dementia, a brain disorder.

“People are concerned that COVID-19 survivors are at increased risk for mental health problems, and our findings … show that it is likely,” said Paul Harrison, professor of psychiatry at the British University of Oxford. . Doctors and scientists around the world urgently need to investigate the causes and identify new treatments for mental illness after COVID-19, he said.

“The (health) services need to be ready to provide care, especially as our results risk being underestimated (by the number of psychiatric patients),” he added.

The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, analyzed the electronic health records of 69 million people in the United States, including more than 62,000 cases of COVID-19. Within three months of testing positive for COVID-19, one in five survivors were recorded as having a first diagnosis of anxiety, depression, or insomnia. This was about twice as likely as other patient groups during the same time period, the researchers said.

The study also found that people with pre-existing mental illness were 65% more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than those without.

Mental health specialists who are not directly involved in the study said its findings add to growing evidence that COVID-19 can affect the brain and mind, increasing the risk of various psychiatric diseases.

“This is likely due to a combination of the psychological stressors associated with this particular pandemic and the physical effects of the disease,” said Michael Bloomfield, a consultant psychiatrist at University College London.

Simon Wessely, a professor of psychiatry at King’s College London, said the finding that people with mental health disorders were also at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 echoed similar findings during previous infectious disease outbreaks.

“COVID-19 affects the central nervous system and could therefore directly increase subsequent ailments. But this research confirms that this is not the whole story and that this risk has increased from previous poor health, “he said.