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covid is a 'systemic virus that may provoke damage in nearly every organ system'

researchers found that people who had contracted covid were more likely to develop mental health disorders like anxiety, depression, substance use and cognitive decline.

by maija kappler

feb 18 2022
read time 3 minute read
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even people with mild covid cases have an increased mental health risk
they found that the people who had covid were 35 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety. getty
covid has the potential to impact the workings of nearly every organ in our bodies, according to a new study — including the brain.

the study , published in the journal the bmj, found that people who had contracted covid, even just a mild infection, were more likely to develop anxiety, depression, substance use, sleep problems, cognitive decline, and other psychiatric illnesses. this, compared to people who didn’t contract the virus, but were still exposed to what the research called “the same adverse forces of the pandemic,” including “economic, social, and other stressors.”

the research “suggests the need to reframe our thinking about sars-cov-2,” the study authors say. “it is not only a respiratory virus; it is a systemic virus that may provoke damage and clinical consequences in nearly every organ system — including mental health disorders and neurocognitive decline.”

a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with a psychiatric issue

researchers looked at almost 154,000 people who had contracted covid, none of whom had had any mental health diagnosis or treatment in the two years before they were infected. their health markers were compared to more than five million people who did not test positive for covid, and nearly six million from before the pandemic, as well as 72,000 people who got the flu pre-pandemic.

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they found that the people who had covid were 35 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety, 38 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with “stress and adjustment disorders,” 39 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with depression, and 41 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with sleep disorders following infection, than people without covid. similarly, the risks of substance abuse also went up: the covid group was found to be 34 per cent more likely to develop an opioid use disorder, and 20 per cent more likely to develop non-opioid substance use disorders. eighteen per cent of covid patients were diagnosed or prescribed treatment for psychiatric issues in the year following their diagnosis, compared to 11 per cent of people without covid in the same time period.
and although people with more severe illnesses who were hospitalized were at an increased likelihood of developing these averse neurological symptoms, it’s telling that even mild cases resulted in some of the same diagnoses, researchers pointed out. it’s also notable to look at how people hospitalized for covid fared, compared to people hospitalized for other reasons.

“whether people were hospitalized for heart attacks or chemotherapy or whatever other conditions, the covid-19 group exhibited a higher risk,” senior study author dr. ziyad al-aly told the new york times .

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the study doesn’t mean, of course, that everyone who has recovered from covid — a group that includes over three million canadians — will develop a mental illness. only about five per cent of people in the study were diagnosed with these disorders. but the link is still an important one to monitor, experts say.

“there appears to be a clear excess of mental health diagnoses in the months after covid,” dr. paul harrison, a professor of psychiatry at the university of oxford, who was not involved in the study, told the new york times . the study is in line with previous research, he said, and “it strengthens the case that there is something about covid that is leaving people at greater risk of common mental health conditions.”

the researchers say they’re concerned about what this will mean in the future, particularly for the rising numbers of people using opioids, “especially considering the high rates of opioid use disorders pre-pandemic.”
they also want people to take the treatment of long-haul covid seriously.
“some may use our findings to gaslight or dismiss long covid as a psychosomatic condition or explain the myriad manifestations of long covid as the result of mental illness,” the authors say. “this dismissal is contrary to scientific evidence and is harmful to patients and communities. mental health disorders represent one part of the multifaceted nature of long covid which can affect nearly every organ system.”
maija kappler is a reporter and editor at healthing. you can reach her at mkappler@postmedia.com
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