Oxford University Researchers: One in Five COVID-19 Patients Develops Mental Illness Within 90 Days



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According to Reuters, anxiety, depression, and insomnia are the most common disorders in COVID-19 patients. The Oxford University researchers who conducted the study also found an increased risk of dementia.

“In the past, people were concerned that people recovering from COVID-19 were at increased risk for mental disorders, and the results of our study suggest that it is likely,” says Paul Harrison, professor of psychiatry at the Oxford University.

According to Mr. Harrison, there is an urgent need for scientists and clinicians around the world to investigate the causes of these disorders and determine what treatments should be applied for post-COVID-19 mental disorders.

According to him, health services should be prepared to provide nursing care, especially knowing that the study results have likely yielded fewer potential psychiatric patients.

The study was published in the Lancet Psychiatry, in which the authors analyzed 69 million. Electronic medical records of the US population, including 62,000. COVID-19 patients. Researchers believe that there is likely a similar risk of developing mental illness around the world.

Three months after a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, 1 in 5 patients who recovered were diagnosed with anxiety, depression, or insomnia for the first time. Other groups of patients were twice as likely to have the same diagnosis during the same period, the researchers write.

It was also found that 65% of people who had a history of mental illness were. are more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than people without mental disorders.

Mental health experts, who did not directly contribute to this study, argue that the recent data only adds to the growing body of evidence that COVID-19 can affect the brain and psyche, increasing the risk of various psychiatric disorders.

“This is likely due to the combination of psychological stressors associated with this particular pandemic and the physical effects of the disease,” said Michael Bloomfield, a psychiatrist at the University College of London.

Simon Wessley, a professor of psychiatry at the Royal College of London, says the finding that people with psychiatric disorders are at increased risk for COVID-19 is consistent with similar results from studies of other communicable disease outbreaks.

“COVID-19 affects the central nervous system and thus can directly increase the risk of subsequent disorders. However, this study confirms that this is not the whole story and that the risk of infection increases with worse mental health, ”he says.

Marjorie Wallace, director of SANE, a UK mental health patient charity, says her organization found itself in this situation during the pandemic.

“Our helpline is dealing with an increased number of first-time callers with mental health issues, as well as more calls from people whose previous fear and anxiety issues have returned and become intolerable,” he said.

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