According to a new study, one in eight people who have recovered from COVID-19 will be diagnosed with their first psychiatric or neurological condition within six months of testing positive for the bug.
Researchers who surveyed 236,379 coronavirus survivors found that the number rose to one in three when people with a history of psychiatric or neurological illness were admitted, the Guardian reported.
In addition, the study found that one in nine patients were also diagnosed with conditions such as depression or stroke, despite not having gone to a hospital when infected, according to lead author Dr. Max Taquet of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford .
The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, used electronic health records to evaluate hospitalized and non-hospitalized U.S. patients with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis who were recovering.
The subjects were compared to one group diagnosed with influenza and another with respiratory infections between January 20 and December 13, 2020, according to the news outlet.
Their analysis took into account factors such as age, race, gender, socioeconomic status and any underlying physical and mental conditions.
According to the results, the chance that a COVID-19 survivor would develop a psychiatric or neurological condition within six months was 33.6 percent; Indeed, nearly 13 percent of survivors received a diagnosis during that time, the study found.
The researchers also found that most diagnoses were more common after attacks with the coronavirus than after flu or other respiratory infections – including stroke, intracranial bleeding, dementia and psychotic disorders.
Overall, COVID-19 was linked to an increased risk of these diagnoses, but the incidence was greater in those requiring hospital treatment, and significant in patients who developed brain diseases, the Guardian reported.
When asked how long these conditions would last after diagnosis, Taquet told the outlet, “I don’t think we have an answer to that question yet.”
He added, “For diagnoses such as stroke or intracranial hemorrhage, the risk decreases quite dramatically within six months … but for a few neurological and psychiatric diagnoses we have no answer as to when it will stop.”
While the study doesn’t prove that COVID-19 is directly behind the psychiatric and neurological conditions, research suggests the bug may have an impact on the brain and central nervous system.
Dr. Tim Nicholson, a psychiatrist and clinical teacher at King’s College Hospital who was not involved in the study, said the results would help researchers decide which neurological and psychiatric complications require further investigation.
“I think this puts a few conditions on the list of interests in particular, notably dementia and psychosis … and pushes a few a little further up the list of potential interest, including Guillain-Barré syndrome,” he said. he the Guardian.
Meanwhile, another study has shown that the coronavirus can stay in the brains of critically ill patients and cause relapses in those who thought they had recovered.
Georgia State University researchers found that infecting the nasal passages of mice with the virus triggered a rapid, escalating attack on the brain that caused serious illness.
Assistant professor Mukesh Kumar, the lead investigator, said the findings have implications for understanding the wide range of symptoms and severity of the disease in people who contract the disease.
“Our thought that it is more of a respiratory disease is not necessarily true,” said Kumar. Once it infects the brain, it can affect everything because the brain controls your lungs, the heart, everything. The brain is a very sensitive organ. It is the central processor for everything. “
That study is published in the journal Viruses.