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PHOTO: Reuters
A study shows that 20% of those infected with COVID-19 are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days, according to Reuters.
The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, analyzed the electronic medical records of 69 million people in the United States, including more than 62,000 cases of COVID-19.
Anxiety, depression and insomnia were more common among recovered COVID-19 patients in the study who developed mental health problems, and the researchers found significantly higher risks of dementia.
“People are concerned that COVID-19 survivors are at increased risk for mental health problems, and our findings suggest that it is likely,” said Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford in the UK.
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 also found that people with pre-existing mental illnesses were 65% more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than those without.
Simon Wesley, a professor of psychiatry at King’s College London, said the finding that people with mental disorders were also at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 echoed similar findings in previous infectious disease outbreaks.
Translation and editing: Lily Gavlashka
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