One in three survivors of severe Covid diagnosed with mental health condition

[Northerner]

One in three people who were severely ill with coronavirus were subsequently diagnosed with a neurological or psychiatric condition within six months of infection, a study has found.

The observational research, which is the largest of its kind, used electronic health records of 236,379 patients mostly from the US and found 34% experienced mental health and neurological conditions afterwards. The most common being anxiety, with 17% of people developing this.

Experts warned that healthcare systems need to be resourced to deal with patients affected by this, which could be “substantial” given the scale of the pandemic. They anticipate that the impact could be felt on health services for many years.

Neurological diagnoses such as stroke and dementia were rarer, but not uncommon in those who had been seriously ill during infection. Of those who had been admitted to intensive care, 7% had a stroke and almost 2% were diagnosed with dementia.

One in three survivors of severe Covid diagnosed with mental health condition

Study finds 34% developed psychiatric or neurological conditions after six months

www.theguardian.com

 

[mikeyB]

That applies to any severe illness. It’s a normal reaction, but has to be classified as an illness. It’s nothing to do with Covid specifically, any more than grief is a pathology.

Dementia, particularly, might be newly diagnosed, but would undoubtedly have been present to a degree before the illness. An incidental finding at best, but not caused by the illness.

If they want to ascribe any more normal things to Covid infections, they could have a go at horizontal lines on the fingernails. They always appear after a significant illness. Just wait and see if that gets an outing.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

That applies to any severe illness. It’s a normal reaction, but has to be classified as an illness. It’s nothing to do with Covid specifically, any more than grief is a pathology.

Dementia, particularly, might be newly diagnosed, but would undoubtedly have been present to a degree before the illness. An incidental finding at best, but not caused by the illness.

If they want to ascribe any more normal things to Covid infections, they could have a go at horizontal lines on the fingernails. They always appear after a significant illness. Just wait and see if that gets an outing.

This article doesn’t seem to say it but another article I saw this morning of presumably the same data analysis said it also looked at the data from patients who had had a similar severity of flu and found a huge difference. Now obviously flu patients wouldn’t have been living under a year of pandemic restrictions and in the midst of many 100s of thousands of people dying so that may be a significant factor in things like levels of depression and anxiety in the covid patients but it’s not helpful to dismiss the analysis as ‘well it’s a normal reaction’ when the data is showing a significant surge in an area that is already underfunded and where support is hard to get. Any health care system needs to be able to identify where needs will increase and this is one area that has been identified.

 

[mikeyB]

Perhaps I should have said it’s a common reaction. Because it is. Flu is not a fair comparison because it’s less life threatening. Such reactions tend to be self limiting. You certainly won’t hear of folk who have recovered from Covid being suicidal. Of course in some people the reaction persists, but severe depression or anxiety is rare, as is the need for specialist intervention. I’ve seen it often enough to make that judgment.

 

[mikeydt1]

i was exposed to covid before Xmas but def didn't want to jump off a bridge, yes i did get down but that was purely because i had lost my partner to the virus and i was then having my own battles which are documented on here.

going off from covid one medical condition called prostatitis is well documented to cause depression not sure why. i have been diagnosed with that medical condition prostatitis for many years now waiting for treatment and strangely enough i am diagnosed with depression problems. the only reason i know about this is that i was doing an article on the subject many years ago and came across the subject and link to depression.

then again in us men any thing going wrong in the never regions would be enough to send us daft.

 

[trophywench]

ANY chronic condition has many more effects than the 'local' ones. They all affect the whole human body - which obviously includes the brain. Wellness is not a simple thing to achieve.

Since we evolved - and even before then, because why not? - 100% of births have not succeeded in 100% survival.

@mikeydt1 - I sincerely trust your prostatitis affected your nether regions since if it they really have been 'never' ones - you've been in much more trouble for a lot longer than you've told us about !

 

[mikeydt1]

since 2008 and i walk funny 🙂 seriously though it put me in hospital they couldn't get my temp down and it was up to 41c very serious situation. since then it has been nothing but trouble.

the problem with the prostate is that it lays between the bladder and the bowel so if it gets infected then the whole lot goes with it. i am on a waiting list to see a surgeon but how long is a piece of string?

 

[mikeyB]

You would have failed your anatomy exam if you told the prof the prostate lies between the bladder and the bowel. And your pathology exam for suggesting that prostatitis can cause bowel problems.

I think you are just unlucky. Disordered karma, like me.

 

[mikeydt1]

well that is the last time i see that doctor 😳