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The new coronavirus, Sars-CoV-2, has taken us on many unexpected journeys. In strict medical terms, loss of taste and smell, heart inflammation, and “mental confusion” are unusual bed companions for a virus that we initially thought was primarily a respiratory illness.
But, for me, the most shocking statistic of all has just emerged: patients with a recent diagnosis of mental illness have a seven times higher risk of Covid-19 infection. This makes a recent mental health diagnosis one of the most important risk factors for the new disease. The unexpected statistic came from a well-crafted study that was just published in the journal World Psychiatry.
Researchers from the College of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and the Bethesda National Institutes of Health in Maryland evaluated the impact of a recent (within the past year) diagnosis of a mental disorder, including attention deficit disorder / hyperactivity (ADHD). ), bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia, about the risk of Covid-19 infection and related mortality and hospitalization rates.
Patients with a recent diagnosis of a mental disorder and a Covid-19 infection had a death rate of 8.5 percent, almost double the rate among Covid-19 patients without a mental disorder. Additionally, the study found a 27.4 percent hospitalization rate for Covid-19 patients compared to an 18.6 percent rate among Covid-19 patients without psychological illness.
They are disturbing findings. We already know that people with mental illness are less likely to access healthcare and public health advice. But this research is an order of magnitude higher than what we already know, especially when you consider the increased odds that came after controlling for age, obesity, diabetes, and a variety of common pre-existing conditions.
With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, it became clear that people with mental illness faced particular challenges in accessing both medical care and public health advice.
The researchers analyzed a database of electronic medical records of 61 million adult patients from 360 hospitals in 50 US states. “Patients with a recent diagnosis of a mental disorder had a significantly increased risk of Covid infection. -19, a stronger effect for depression and schizophrenia, “they said. “Women with mental disorders were more likely to be infected with Covid-19 than men, with the strongest gender disparity for ADHD.”
When asked to comment on the groundbreaking research, Dr Brendan Kelly, Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin, told The Irish Times: “We already know that people with mental illness are less likely to access care. compared to people without mental illness. This is one of the reasons why, on average, men with schizophrenia die 15 years earlier and women 12 years earlier than the rest of the population.
“With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, it became clear that people with mental illness faced particular challenges in accessing both health care and public health advice. This new study from the US shows just how big this problem is. “
These findings emphasize the importance of good physical and mental health care during the pandemic, he said. “In recent years, Ireland’s mental health services have accounted for around 7 percent of our health budget. In England and Germany, that figure is 12 percent. This study shows that multidisciplinary mental health care is more important than ever during the current pandemic. “
On the other side of the psychological coin, we have become painfully aware of the anxiety, panic, and other mental health problems that are caused by the pandemic.
“Among the public, floating anxiety can be alleviated by advising people to manage their use of the media, especially social media, and to focus on reliable sources of information, such as who. This will help combat misinformation and conspiracy theories that simply fuel anxiety and cause enormous distress for many, ”says Kelly.
But the statistics from the US research are seismic. They require an urgent response from the Department of Health.
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