Researchers: “We can’t tell if drugs cause these effects, but statistical analysis shows a significant association.”
COVID patients taking antidepressants are 30% less likely to die from coronavirus, according to a new study. Scientists have selected more than 3 thousand people who have had COVID while taking antidepressants. The results showed that they were 28% less likely to die from the disease.
Research shows antidepressants can reduce the risk of dying from COVID. According to the Daily Mail, scientists from the United States monitored the health of almost 85 thousand volunteers during the first year of the pandemic and selected 3,401 people who were prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and compared them with similar adult patients.
The results showed that patients taking the antidepressant were 28% less likely to die from COVID-19.
Doctors at the University of California, San Francisco who conducted the study called the results “encouraging.” Lead researcher Dr. Marina Sirota says: “We cannot say if drugs cause these effects, but statistical analysis shows a significant association.”
Study co-author Tomiko Oskoci comments: “It is important to find as many options as possible to treat any disease. A certain drug or drug may not work or be well tolerated by everyone. Data from electronic health records allows us to quickly study existing drugs that can be used to treat COVID or other diseases. ”
Prescribed to millions of Britons every year, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors work by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain, which improves mood, writes the Daily Mail. But the hormone is also involved in regulating the immune system and can help prevent it from overreacting and attacking healthy cells, which can be fatal.
Other studies looking at the drugs’ effects on COVID have also shown promising results. The results of the latest study are published in the JAMA Network Open. Researchers examined the Cerner Real World Covid database of patients who had previously contracted COVID and received SSRIs.
The Montana database is one of the world’s largest collections of anonymous medical records, holding data for approximately 500,000 patients. Patients who had COVID and were taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were grouped by age, gender and ethnicity – key risk factors for COVID.
They were compared to other COVID patients who were similar in age, gender and ethnicity, but who did not receive SSRIs. Overall, patients who received SSRIs had an eight percent lower risk of death than those who did not.
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