Oxford study links Covid-19 with brain and mental health disorder

Researchers discovered that people who had been diagnosed with Covid-19, one in every three Covid-19 survivors in the preceding six months were more likely to experience depression, dementia, stroke and psychosis.

According to a report published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal, which was observational, the University of Oxford research looked at the health records of 236,379 Covid-19 patients who were infected last year. They compared people with Covid-19 to people with flu and other respiratory infections.

The most common diagnoses were anxiety and mood disorders, which accounted for 17 percent and 14 percent of patients, respectively. However, the study discovered that 7% of those infected with the virus had a stroke and 2% were diagnosed with dementia.

Covid patients were 16 percent more likely to develop a psychiatric or neurological illness than those who had other respiratory infections which was 44 percent more likely than those who had the flu.

In order to make the participants as reasonably comparable as possible, they were matched based on age, sex, ethnicity, and health conditions.

Head of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, Dr Sara Imarisio said, "Previous studies have highlighted that people with dementia are at higher risk of developing severe Covid-19. This new study investigates whether this relationship may also hold in the other direction.”

Although the exact causes of these long-term effects remain unclear, the investigators speculate that some of them may be due to stress, work loss, or isolation during quarantine. More in-depth research on the neurological risks is required along with more resources to address the full range of consequences.

“The study confirms our suspicions that a Covid-19 diagnosis is not just related to respiratory symptoms, it is also related to psychiatric and neurological problems.” Said Professor Dame Til Wykes of King’s College London.