Report: 20% of Covid-19 survivors will have 'a psychiatric disorder within 90 days'

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 11): A “large study” has found that up to 20% of those who recovered from the Covid-19 disease are “diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days”, reported Reuters yesterday.

Anxiety, depression and insomnia were most common among former Covid-19 patients.

More ominous is that Oxford University also found “significantly higher risks of dementia”, said the report.

“People have been worried that Covid-19 survivors will be at greater risk of mental health problems, and our findings … show this to be likely,” said professor of psychiatry at Oxford, Paul Harrison.

The study which was published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal, investigated electronic health records of 69 million people in the US, including more than 62,000 cases of Covid-19 infections.

Michael Bloomfield, a consultant psychiatrist at University College London, however told Reuters that “this is likely due to a combination of the psychological stressors associated with this particular pandemic and the physical effects of the illness”.  

Simon Wessely, regius professor of psychiatry at King’s College London, is of the view that the results showing people with mental health disorders also being at higher risk of getting Covid-19 disease “echoed similar findings in previous infectious disease outbreaks”.

“Covid-19 affects the central nervous system, and so might directly increase subsequent disorders. But this research confirms that is not the whole story, and that this risk is increased by previous ill health,” he explained.

Yesterday, Malaysia recorded 869 new Covid-19 cases, making a total of 42,050 confirmed infections since the pandemic hit the country.

The country’s Covid-19 death toll stood at 300, after six new deaths were reported  — four men and two women aged between 47 and 84, all in Sabah — according to health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. 

Meanwhile, The United States recorded about a million cases of Covid-19 over the past 10 days, the highest increase rate since the country reported its first case in January, reported Xinhua news agency.

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