One-third of COVID-19 survivors suffer from long-term brain or psychiatric disorders, scientists reported Tuesday.
The researchers studied more than 236,000 patients, mostly in the United States, finding that 34% of survivors were diagnosed with a neurological or psychological condition within six months of infection. Researchers call it the largest study to date on the link between coronavirus and brain health.
The researchers looked at a total of 14 neurological and mental health disorders. According to the observational study, published Tuesday in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, anxiety was the most common diagnosis, affecting 17% of survivors.
The neurological effects were more severe in patients who were hospitalized – but remained common even in less severe cases. Mood disorders were the second most common diagnosis, at 14%, followed by substance abuse disorders at 7% and insomnia at 5%.
Neurological diagnoses, such as stroke and dementia, were rarer, but not uncommon. Of the patients admitted to intensive care with severe COVID-19, 7% had a stroke within six months and almost 2% were diagnosed with dementia.
For 13% of patients, it was their first enrollment neurological or psychiatric diagnosis.
“These are real-world data from a large number of patients. They confirm the high rates of psychiatric diagnoses after COVID-19 and show that serious disorders affecting the nervous system (such as stroke and dementia) also occur.” Chief Paul Harrison said in a statement Wednesday. “While the latter are much rarer, they are significant, especially in those who have had severe COVID-19.”
The researchers compared electronic health records of patients with COVID-19 with those who had other respiratory infections over the same period of time. Taking into account the underlying health characteristics, they found that people with coronavirus have a 44% higher chance of neurological or psychiatric diagnoses compared to patients. recovering from the flu, and a 16% higher risk than other respiratory tract infections.
Previous research by the same scientists last year found that 20% of coronavirus survivors they were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder in just three months.
“Our results indicate that brain disease and psychiatric disorders are more common after COVID-19 than after the flu or other respiratory infections, even when patients are matched for other risk factors,” said co-author Max Taquet. “Now we have to see what happens after six months. The study cannot reveal the mechanisms involved, but shows that urgent research is needed to identify them, in order to prevent or treat them.
Researchers are concerned that long-term brain or psychiatric disorders could put even more pressure on a health care system already pushed to its limits.
Although the individual risks for most disorders are small, the effect on the entire population can be substantial for health and welfare systems because of the magnitude of the pandemic and that many of these conditions are chronic, Harrison said. As a result, health care systems need to be resourced to meet the anticipated need in both primary and secondary care services.
The researchers noted several failures of the study, including the fact that patients with medical records of their symptoms are likely to have been more severely affected by COVID-19. In addition, the severity of brain disorders in these patients is unknown.
Because the study was observational, the researchers could only observe associations, not causality. However, experts who are not involved in the study remain concerned about the findings.
“This is a very important work. It confirms beyond a reasonable doubt that COVID-19 affects both the brain and the mind equally,” Simon Wessely, president of psychiatry at King’s College London, told Reuters.
“The impact that COVID-19 has on people’s mental health can be severe,” said Lea Milligan, executive director of the charity MQ Mental Mental Health. This contributes to already rising levels of mental illness and requires urgent further research.