An infection with the coronavirus sometimes throws a long shadow. This is not only shown by the many cases of Long Covid that have been observed since pandemic: people who have received a positive test result may have a higher risk of developing a mental illness a year later. This is reported by a team around Yan Xie from Saint Louis University in the specialist magazine »BMJ«.
The group analyzed entries from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' health database. She compared more than 150,000 people who had received a positive corona test between March 2020 and January 2021 with more than 5 million people who had not been infected and with 5 million comparison subjects whose data came from before the pandemic. One year later, infected people were 60 percent more likely than non-infected participants to be diagnosed with mental illness. Those affected most frequently reported sleep disorders, followed by depression, neurocognitive disorders and substance dependence. The risk was particularly significantly increased in subjects who had to be treated in hospital. But even those with mild courses complained more often about psychological complaints.
Since the examination is only an observation study, no safe statements can be made about cause and effect. In addition, the authors point out that their sample was not representative of the American general population. Most people were white and male, and the average age was 63 years. Next, one must therefore examine whether the results can also be transferred to other groups, as further results already indicate. It is also important to make out the reasons for the development.
