One-third of Covid-19 survivors suffer from neurological or mental disorders – study
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – One in three Covid-19 survivors – covered by a study involving more than 230,000 patients, most of them Americans – was diagnosed with a brain or psychiatric disorder within six months, suggesting that the pandemic may lead to a wave of mental and neurological problems, scientists said Tuesday.
The researchers who conducted the study said it is unclear how the virus is linked to psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression. Still, these are the most common diagnoses among the 14 disorders considered.
Cases of stroke, dementia, and other neurological disorders following Covid-19 are rarer, the researchers said, but are still significant, especially in patients who have had severe forms of the disease.
“Our results indicate that brain disease and psychiatric disorders are more common after Covid-19 than after influenza or other respiratory infections,” said Max Taquet, a psychiatrist at the British University of Oxford, one of the co-authors of the paper.
The study could not determine the biological or psychological mechanisms involved, Taquet said, but urgent research is needed to identify them “to prevent and treat them.”
Health experts are increasingly concerned about evidence of higher risks of neurological and mental disorders among Covid-19 survivors. nA previous study by the same researchers found that 20% of Covid-19 survivors were diagnosed with some psychiatric problem within a three-month period.
The new study, published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, looked at health records of 236,379 Covid-19 patients, most of them in the United States, and found that 34% were diagnosed with psychiatric or neurological disorders within six months.
The disorders are significantly more common in Covid-19 patients than in comparison groups of people who recovered from influenza or other respiratory infections in the same time period, the scientists said, suggesting that Covid-19 has a specific impact.
Anxiety at 17% and mood disorders at 14% are the most common disorders, and do not appear to be related to how mild or severe the patient’s Covid-19 infection was.
Among those admitted to intensive care units with a severe Covid-19 condition, 7% had a stroke within six months, and about 2% were diagnosed with dementia.
“Although the individual risks for most disorders were small, the effect across the population may be substantial,” said Paul Harrison, Oxford professor of psychiatry who co-led the study.
Source: Moneytimes
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