Mental illness is the most common among all age groups
4.5% of people over 65 years of age develop dementia within 2 years
Children under 18 years of age are twice as likely to have epilepsy or seizures
A research team at Oxford University in the UK has published a study that showed that people infected with COVID-19 have an increased risk of developing dementia, mental illness and brain fog within two years, the Financial Times (FT) reported on the 18th (local time).
According to a paper submitted to The Lancet Psychiatry, the Oxford University research team found that 1.25 million people diagnosed with COVID-19 in the US, UK, India, and Taiwan between 2020 and 2022 had electronic health records and the same number of respiratory infections. A control group consisting of patients of We analyzed 14 neurological and psychiatric diseases, including dementia, mental disorders, brain fog, mood disorders, insomnia, and epilepsy.
COVID-19 virus. Getty Images Bank
As a result of the study, mental illness occurred most frequently in all age groups within 6 months of infection with COVID-19. In particular, those over the age of 65 were most significantly affected by COVID-19 infection. Of these, 4.5% developed dementia within the next two years. The control group was 3.3%. The incidence rate of mental illness among people 65 years of age and older with COVID-19 was 0.85%, which was higher than that of the control group (0.6%).
Among adults between the ages of 18 and 64, the incidence of brain fog showed a difference of 5.5% and 6.4% between those infected with COVID-19 and the control group, respectively. Brain fog is a state in which the cognitive ability declines due to the constant feeling of dazedness as if there is a fog in the head. Insomnia (6.4%) of adults was also higher than that of the control group (5.4%). There were no significant differences in other diseases.
In 185,000 patients under the age of 18, the probability of having epilepsy or seizures was 2.6%, twice that of the control group (1.3%). The risk of mental illness tripled. The research team said, “Unlike adults, the risk of mood and anxiety disorders did not increase in adolescents following infection with COVID-19,” the research team said.
Max Tagett, who led the research team, told FT, “Over the course of two years, the overall number of underage patients did not increase significantly, and even if they did develop, the great risk disappeared within two to three months.” “The current dominant species, the omicron mutation, has much milder symptoms immediately following infection than the delta, and has a similar rate of psychiatric diagnosis,” Tackett added.
There was no difference in mortality among patients with neurological and psychiatric diagnoses between those infected with COVID-19 and the control group. “The fact that a similar proportion of deaths occurred on both sides suggests that the deaths are not related to COVID-19 infection, but reflect general physical health,” the researchers said.
Reporter Gicheon Na [email protected]
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