Prognosis
Covid Boosts Risks for Mental, Neurological Disorders in Study
- Research compared Covid-19 versus flu, respiratory infections
- Anxiety, mood disorders, stroke, dementia seen at higher rate
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A third of Covid-19 survivors were diagnosed with a neurological or psychiatric condition in the six months after being infected, according to the first large-scale research to compare the risks to other illnesses, including influenza.
The University of Oxford study analyzed health records of 236,379 Covid-19 patients infected last year, according to a report in The Lancet Psychiatry journal. As might be expected, anxiety and mood disorders were the most common diagnoses, at 17% and 14% of patients respectively. But the study also found 7% of those made sickest by the virus had a stroke and 2% were diagnosed with dementia.