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Research reveals that 20% of people infected with COVID-19 were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days.
Many COVID-19 survivors are likely to be at higher risk of developing mental illness, psychiatrists said, after a large study found that 20% of people infected with the coronavirus are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder in the 90 days.
Anxiety, depression, and insomnia were most common in COVID-19 patients recovered from 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 greater risk for mental health problems, and our findings … show that it is likely,” said Paul Harrison, study author and professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. .
Doctors and scientists around the world urgently need to investigate the causes and identify new treatments for mental illness after COVID-19, Harrison said.
The study, published Monday in The Lancet Psychiatry, analyzed the electronic health records of 69 million people in the United States, including more than 62,000 who had cases of COVID-19.
Within three months of testing positive for COVID-19, one in five survivors has been recorded as having a first diagnosis of anxiety, depression or insomnia.
This was about twice as likely as for other groups of patients during the same period, the researchers said.
The study also found that people with pre-existing mental illnesses were 65% more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than those without.
Two main factors could explain why people tend to develop symptoms of anxiety and depression, according to the study author.
“The virus could directly affect the brain in some ways, possibly through the immune system, which leads to the mental health issue,” Harrison told Al Jazeera.
“But more importantly, the experience of having had COVID-19 and understanding all the things that could have happened to you along with all the fears and concerns the virus made people have, may also be a reason.
“[Health] services must be prepared to provide care, especially as our results are likely to be underestimated [of the number of psychiatric patients],” he added.
Mental health specialists 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 a range of psychiatric illnesses. .
Simon Wessely, regius 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 from previous disease outbreaks infectious.
“COVID-19 affects the central nervous system and could therefore directly increase subsequent disorders. But this research confirms that that’s not the whole story and that this risk is increased by previous health problems, ”he said.
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