Coronavirus: 1 in 5 patients develops a mental illness

Nearly one in 5 patients with Covid-19 develops a psychological disorder – anxiety, stress, depression, insomnia … – within three months of contamination, according to a study by a team of British researchers.

Before reaching this conclusion, specialists from the University of Oxford and the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Center analyzed 70 million medical records of hospital patients and more than 62,000 cases of Covid-19 that do not need hospitalization.

As a result, within 14-90 days of diagnosis, 18.1% had suffered from a mental illness. To find out if this was specific to Covid-19, the researchers then studied the onset of these disorders in patients suffering from other pathologies (flu, urinary tract stones, fractures, etc.).

And after their analyzes, the scientists, who published their paper in Lancet Psychiatry, found that people infected with SARS-CoV-2 are twice as likely to develop mental illness as patients with another condition.

Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, however, said more research is needed to determine with certainty that the occurrence of such disorders is directly related to Covid-19, smoking, drug use, or status. socioeconomic, which was not taken into account in the case analysis.

However, research suggests that people from more advantaged socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to suffer from mental health problems. It is also possible that the particularly stressful context of the pandemic is playing a role, he added. For this reason “we are therefore particularly careful not to over-interpret these results”.

An Italian study conducted by the San Raffaele Hospital Center and published last August, also highlighted a large number of cases of psychological disorders. After following the clinical progress of 402 former Covid-19 patients (265 men and 137 women), the researchers found that 55% of them suffered from a psychiatric disorder after discharge from the hospital.

In particular, 28% of the respondents presented post-traumatic stress, 31% depression, 42% anxiety and 40% insomnia. Finally, in 20% of cases, patients were victims of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).