Data points showing increased anxiety, depression, substance use disorder, and suicidal ideation
People with mild or severe COVID-19 infections may experience mental health problems more than those without COVID-19, according to a new study by Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine and veterans. Will be significantly higher. St. Louis Healthcare System. Such disorders include anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, opioid use disorders, illicit drug and alcohol use disorders, and sleep and cognitive disorders.
As the COVID-19 pandemic reaches its third year, countless people have experienced varying degrees of uncertainty, isolation, and mental health problems.
However, according to researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the Veterans Health System in St. Louis, people infected with COVID-19 are very likely to experience mental health problems. Such disorders include anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, opioid use disorders, illicit drug and alcohol use disorders, and sleep and cognitive disorders.
In a large and comprehensive study of the mental health consequences of people with SARS-CoV-2 infections, researchers found that such disorders within one year after recovery from the virus in people with severe and mild infections. Was found to have occurred.
Overall, in this study, people infected with COVID-19 were 60% more likely to suffer from mental health problems than non-infected people, and the use of prescription medications to treat such problems. Was found to increase the risk of substance use disorders such as: Opioids and non-opioids such as alcohol and illegal drugs.
The findings will be published in the journal The BMJ on February 16th.
Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, a senior author and clinical epidemiologist at the University of Washington, said: “But while we all suffer during a pandemic, people infected with COVID-19 are much worse mentally. Recognizing this reality before falling into a much greater mental health crisis. And you need to deal with these situations. “
Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 403 million people worldwide and 77 million people in the United States have been infected with the virus.
“Overview, COVID-19 infection may contribute to more than 14.8 million new cases of mental illness worldwide and 2.8 million in the United States,” Al-Aly said in a study. I mentioned with reference. “Our calculations do not take into account perhaps millions of countless people who are suffering in silence due to mental health stigma or lack of resources or support. In addition, the case does not take into account. The problem is expected to grow as it appears to increase over time. Frankly, the scope of this mental health crisis is jarring, horrifying and sad.
“Our goal was to better understand the long-term risk of mental illness in people with COVID-19 and to provide a comprehensive analysis to help guide post-infection health care,” he said. Al-Aly, who treats patients with the disease, added. VA St. Louis Healthcare System. “To date, research on COVID-19 and mental health has been limited by up to 6 months of follow-up data and a narrow selection of mental health results, such as substance use disorder testing rather than depression and anxiety testing. Has been done. “
Researchers analyzed anonymized medical records in a database maintained by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the largest integrated health care delivery system in the United States. The researchers found that the health of 153,848 adults who tested positive for COVID-19 at any time between March 1, 2020 and January 15, 2021 and survived the first 30 days of the disease. You have created a managed dataset that contains information. Few people were vaccinated before developing COVID-19 because the vaccine was not yet widely available at the time of enrollment.
Statistical modeling was used to compare the mental health results of the COVID-19 dataset with the other two groups that were not infected with the virus. A control group of more than 5.6 million patients who did not have COVID-19 during the same period. And a control group of more than 5.8 million patients who were patients from March 2018 to January 2019, long before the pandemic began.
The majority of study participants were older Caucasian men. However, due to its size, the survey included more than 1.3 million females, more than 2.1 million black participants, and a large number of people of different ages.
Compared to non-infected controls, people infected with COVID-19 are 35% more likely to suffer from anxiety disorders and have depression and stress-related disorders that can affect their behavior and emotions. You are nearly 40% more likely to experience it. This was consistent with a 55% increase in the use of antidepressants and a 65% increase in the use of benzodiazepines to treat anxiety.
Similarly, people who recovered from COVID-19 were 41% more likely to suffer from sleep disorders and 80% more likely to experience neurocognitive decline. The latter refers to oblivion, confusion, lack of concentration, and other disorders commonly known together as brain fog.
More worrisome than people without COVID-19, people infected with the virus are 34% more likely to develop opioid use disorders and develop non-opioid substance use disorders, including alcohol or illicit drugs. The chance was 20% higher. They were also 46% more likely to have suicidal ideation.
“People need to know that if they are infected with COVID-19 and are mentally distressed, they are not alone and should not be shy and seek help immediately,” Al- Aly said. “It is important for us to now recognize this, diagnose it, and deal with it before the opioid crisis snowballs, and we begin to lose more people to suicide.
“To ensure that we provide people with equitable access to resources for diagnosis and treatment, more of these issues by government, public and private health insurance providers, and the healthcare system. We need a lot of awareness, “he added.
To better understand whether the increased risk of mental health disorders is unique to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, researchers also include 11,924 patients hospitalized between October 2017 and February 2020. We compared 72,207 influenza patients with COVID-19 patients. The risk was significantly higher in patients with mild and severe COVID-19 infections, 27% and 45%, respectively.
“My hope is to dispel the notion that COVID-19 is like the flu,” Al-Aly said. “It’s much more serious.”
Because hospitalization can cause anxiety, depression, and other mental states, researchers compared people hospitalized with COVID-19 during the first 30 days of infection to people hospitalized for other causes. did. Mental health disorders were 86% more likely in people hospitalized with COVID-19.
“Our findings suggest a specific association between SARS-Co-V-2 and mental health disorders,” continued Al-Aly. “I’m not sure why this is, but one of the main hypotheses is that the virus can enter the brain, block the pathways of cells and neurons, and cause mental illness.
“I’m absolutely convinced that urgent attention is needed to identify and treat survivors of COVID-19 with mental illness,” he said.
Those who are thinking of suicide should call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 800-273-TALK (8255). Those suffering from mental health problems can call the National Mental Illness Family Alliance (800-950-NAMI (6264)) or text 741741 with “NAMI”.
