WASHINGTON- A new study out this week is the latest to suggest that the effects of covid-19 can extend beyond the initial acute illness. Researchers found that about one in every five people diagnosed with covid-19 went on to be diagnosed with an episode of mental illness and/or insomnia in the three months following—a rate higher than in people who became sick but were not diagnosed with covid-19 during that same time period.

The new research, published in the Lancet Psychiatry on Monday, analyzed anonymized medical records from a database of 69.8 million patients in the U.S. Of these, over 62,000 patients were diagnosed with covid-19 between January 20 and August 1, 2020, and 44,000 had no previous history of mental illness. The researchers compared the mental health outcomes of these patients to patients diagnosed with one of six other medical conditions, including influenza or other respiratory infections, a broken bone, a skin infection, and kidney stones. These other patients were used as a sort of control, since many acute health problems are known to affect a person’s mental health, at least temporarily.

All told, across nearly every marker of mental or neurological health the researchers looked at, people with confirmed covid-19 appeared to be worse off. Read the full study HERE

Read the full article HERE