LONDON (CU)_A recent study has found that the pandemic may lead to a wave of neurological and mental problems, as one in three COVID-19 survivors have been diagnosed with brain or psychiatric disorders within six months.
Among the 14 disorders looked at by the researchers, anxiety and depression were found to be the most common diagnosis, while cases of dementia, strokes and similar neurological disorders were rarer.
Scientists also identified that these psychiatric conditions were significantly reported from patients who had sever COVID-19, although it is not yet clear how the virus is linked to the disorders.
“Our results indicate that brain diseases and psychiatric disorders are more common after COVID-19 than after flu or other respiratory infections,” Max Taquet, from Britain’s Oxford University who co-led the work, said.
He added that while the analysis was not able to conclude he biological or psychological mechanisms involved, however, urgent research is need to identify them in order to prevent or treat these conditions.
The study analysed the health records of more than 230,000 COVID-19 patients, mostly from the United States, and found that 34 per cent of them had been diagnosed with a brain or psychiatric disorder within six months since infection.
It also found that these illnesses were significantly more common in COVID patients, in comparison to people who have recovered from flu or other respiratory infections, suggesting that Coronavirus has had a specific impact.
The most common conditions were anxiety and mood disorders, at 17 per cent and 14 per cent respectively, but they did not appear to depend on how mild or severe the patient’s infection had been. However, in the case of those had been admitted to intensive care with severe COVID-19, 7 per cent had a stroke within six months while nearly 2 per cent were diagnosed with dementia.
According to Paul Harrison, who also co-led the work, the individual risks for most disorders are small, but their effect across the whole population could be substantial.
There are growing concerns among health experts over evidence of higher risks of neurological and mental disorders among COVID survivors. Last years, the same researchers conducted a study and found that 20 per cent of those infected by the virus were diagnosed with psychiatric illnesses within three months.
