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Having had severe Covid-19 appears to be associated with a higher risk of long-term mental health problems, such as depression and/or anxiety. This is the first study to look at the long-term mental health implications of patients who were hospitalized for more than seven days after COVID-19 diagnosis using data from six countries.
In general, most mental health symptoms of recovered Covid-19 patients resolved within two months of diagnosis. However, those who remained more than seven days in hospital they were more likely to experience depression and anxiety during the 16-month study period.
The researchers studied the prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, COVID-19-related distress, and poor sleep quality among people with and without a diagnosis.
Patients with mild Covid-19 were less likely to have depression and anxiety than those who were never diagnosed.
The results of the study published in “The Lancet Public Health” suggest that, in general, non-hospitalized patients with a SARS-CoV-2 infection were more likely to experience depressive symptoms up to 16 months after diagnosis compared to those who never. they got infected. Patients who were bedridden for seven days or more had higher rates of depression and anxiety, compared to people who were diagnosed with Covid-19 but never required hospital admission.
However, in most cases of symptoms of depression and anxiety remitted within two months in non-hospitalized patients with Covid-19. However, those who were bedridden for seven days or more continued to have a higher risk of depression and anxiety during the 16 months how long the study lasted.
The pandemic has disrupted many aspects of daily life, and the toll that social distancing requirements, along with general uncertainty, have taken on the mental health of many people is well documented.
Most studies to date have only examined negative mental health impacts up to six months after COVID-19 diagnosis, and little is known about long-term mental health effects beyond that period , especially in the case of non-hospitalized patients with different degrees of disease severity.
To visualize the long-term repercussions on mental health, the researchers analyzed the prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, discomfort related to Covid-19 and poor sleep quality between people with and without a diagnosis of Covid-19 from 0 to 16 months (average follow-up of 5.65 months). The analysis was based on data from seven cohorts from Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Of the 247,249 people included, 9,979 (4%) were diagnosed with Covid-19 between February 2020 and August 2021. Self-reports of confirmed positive PCR or antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2 infection served as an indicator of a diagnosis of Covid-19.
Overall, participants diagnosed with Covid-19 had a higher prevalence of depression and poorer sleep quality compared to individuals who were never diagnosed.
People diagnosed with Covid-19 but never bedridden due to their illness were less likely to experience symptoms of depression and anxiety than those not diagnosed with Covid-19. The authors state that one of the explanations for this fact is that the return to normal life is a relief for these people, while those who are not yet infected are still anxious about the risk of infection and overwhelmed by Social isolation.
The analysis finds a clear reduction in some mental health symptoms, such as depression and Covid-19-related distress, over time.
On the contrary, the longer dwell time in bed was consistently associated with a higher prevalence of mental health effects. Over 16 months, patients who were bedridden for seven days or more remained 50% to 60% more likely to experience increased depression and anxiety compared with people who were never infected during the period. study.
The author of the study, Unnur Anna Valdimarsdóttir, from the University of Iceland, notes that “this research is one of the first to explore mental health symptoms following severe COVID-19 illness in the general population up to 16 months after diagnosis. It suggests that mental health effects are not the same for all Covid-19 patients and that time spent in bed is a key factor in determining the severity of mental health impacts. As we enter the third year of the pandemic, there is a need to increase clinical surveillance for adverse mental health effects.”
The quicker recovery from the physical symptoms of Covid-19 may partly explain why mental health symptoms they decline at a similar rate for those with a mild infection. However, patients with severe Covid-19 often experience inflammation that has been previously linked to chronic effects on mental health, particularly depression.
For Ingibjörg Magnúsdóttirfrom the University of Iceland, “the higher incidence of depression and anxiety among Covid-19 patients who spent seven days or more bedridden could be due to a combination of concern about long-term health effects, as well as as well as the persistence of the physical symptoms of Covid far beyond the disease, which limit social contact and can lead to a feeling of helplessness.
Similarly, inflammatory responses among patients with a severe diagnosis may contribute to more persistent mental health symptoms. Instead, the fact that individuals with a mild Covid-19 infection are able to return to normal life sooner and only experience a benign infection likely contributes to the lower risk of negative effects about the mental health that we observe.”
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