Via The Globe and Mail; One in three COVID-19 patients in U.S. developed a neurological or psychiatric condition, study finds. Excerpt:
A study of more than 236,000 people in the United States who contracted COVID-19 last year has found that one in three developed a neurological or psychiatric condition and one in 50 of those who became seriously ill received their first diagnosis of dementia within six months.
The most common conditions were anxiety and mood disorders, which occurred in 17 per cent and 14 per cent respectively of those studied. Among patients admitted to intensive care, the researchers found that 7 per cent suffered a stroke and almost 2 per cent developed dementia – which could have been present before COVID-19 but went undiagnosed. They added that more study is needed to fully establish the link between COVID-19 and dementia.
“I think we can have more confidence that there is an increased risk of stroke and an increasing risk of at least uncovering dementia with COVID, and that that really goes along with the severity of the illness,” said Masud Husain, a professor of neurology and cognitive neuroscience at the University of Oxford who co-authored the study.
The research, published Tuesday in The Lancet Psychiatry, also compared people who had contracted COVID-19 to those who had the flu or another respiratory illness, such as pneumonia or acute bronchitis. The researchers found a 44-per-cent greater risk of neurological and mental health diagnoses after infection with COVID-19 than with the flu and a 16-per-cent greater risk than with other respiratory diseases.
The study is the largest of its kind, and the researchers said the results could have a profound effect on the demand for mental health services and other medical care once the pandemic eases. “What we hope is our data can provide some of the best findings upon which people can begin to model the implications for public health and the health services generally,” said Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at Oxford who was also among the co-authors.
