United States: A new study found that severe cases of Covid are increasingly connected to a raised risk of mental illness such as anxiety and depression.
The study found such association is more prominent among those who were not vaccinated against the disease.
More about the study
The study revealed the cases of mental illnesses are higher in the weeks of COVID-19 diagnosis. However, the cases raised are much lower among those who were vaccinated against the virus than those who were not.
Moreover, the study showed the rising trend of mental sicknesses to be more and lasted for a more extended period in cases where the infected person is hospitalized for COVID-19, as compared to those not being hospitalized for the same.
According to Dr. Jonathan Sterne, an author of the study and professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at the University of Bristol Medical School, “The main surprise was that the association of COVID-19 with subsequent mental ill-health appeared restricted to severe COVID-19 that led to hospitalisation. There was little association of COVID-19 that did not lead to hospitalisation with subsequent mental ill-health,” as CNN Health reported.
Researchers from the University of Bristol Medical School and other institutions in the United Kingdom also discovered a strong connection between older adults and men compared to younger age groups and women.
As per Sterne, “The most likely explanation for the stronger associations in older adults is that they are more likely to develop severe COVID-19 leading to hospitalization.”
This may also explain the somewhat stronger associations in men, but we do not have a definite explanation,” he continued.
How was the study conducted?
The new study involved electronic health record data, consisting of three groups of adults, ages eighteen to 110, in England.
In one group, almost eighteen million people were diagnosed during the period of Covid between January 2020 and June 2021, when vaccination was yet to be introduced.
People in the other two groups included 14 million people who were vaccinated and 3.2 million people who were not diagnosed with COVID-19 between June 2021 and December 2021, as CNN Health reported.
The researchers analyzed the number of individuals in each group to be diagnosed with mental sickness during the weeks after coming positive for the disease.
They were seen to have conditions such as general anxiety, depression, PTSD, eating disorders, self-harm tendencies, addiction, and suicidal tendencies, as well as severe mental illnesses like bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, and psychotic depression.