According to a study published on Tuesday, one-third of coronavirus patients were found to have psychiatric or brain problems in the six months following the diagnosis of COVID-19.
The researchers analyzed the health records of 236,379 patients with COVID, mostly from the United States, and found that 34% had been diagnosed with neurological or psychiatric disorders six months later.
Approximately one in eight patients, or 12.8%, was first diagnosed with the disease, according to the study.
According to research, anxiety (17%) and depression or mood disorders (14%) were the most common diagnoses.
Cases of stroke, dementia, and other post-COVID neurological disorders were rarer, but still significant, especially in people who had been severely ill with the virus, the scientists said.
Among those who had been admitted to intensive care with coronavirus, 7% had a stroke within six months. The study found that almost 2% were diagnosed with dementia.
Disorders were significantly more common in patients with COVID than in comparison groups of people who recovered from influenza or other respiratory infections during the same time period.
“Our results indicate that brain disease and psychiatric disorders are more common after COVID-19 than after the flu or other respiratory infections,” said Max Taquet, a psychiatrist at Oxford University in Britain. co-direct the work.
The study, published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, failed to determine how the virus relates to psychiatric conditions, Taquet said, adding that urgent research is needed to identify the mechanisms involved.
The researchers also suggested that the pandemic could cause a wave of mental and neurological problems.
“While the individual risks for most disorders are small, the effect on the entire population can be substantial,” said Paul Harrison, an Oxford psychiatry professor who led the work.
With publishing cables