In a recent study published in the newspaper Clinical Microbiology Infectionresearchers from Inserm, AP-HP and University of Paris had shown than 60% of patients (known as “long Covid”) are still affected by at least one symptom 6 months after infection and 25% by three or more symptoms. According to this French study carried out on the “French Covid” cohort, the symptoms most often reported are physical signs: severe fatigue, respiratory discomfort, muscle and joint pain.
But what about the neurological and psychiatric consequences?
A study from April 2021, funded by the University of Oxford (Great Britain) shows that more than a third of patients affected by covid-19 come out with neurological or psychiatric sequelae within 6 months. follow coronavirus infection. The disease would even make them more vulnerable than the flu or other respiratory infections, according to this study published in The Lancet psychiatry.
For this study, researchers followed nearly 237,000 people with Covid-19 for 6 months after diagnosis and compared them to thousands of people hospitalized for other conditions.. They found that after Covid-19, 34% of patients suffered from psychiatric disorders, including 12.84% for the first time. The most frequently diagnosed disorders are anxiety disorders (17% of patients), mood disorders (14%), substance abuse disorders (7%) and insomnia (5 %). The incidence of neurological disorders and, on the other hand, lower with 2.1% of cerebral ischemic accidents (a form of stroke) and 0.7% cases of dementia.
They also concluded that diagnoses for neurological or psychiatric disorders were 44% more numerous after Covid-19 than after the flu, and 16% more numerous than after a respiratory tract infection.
Anxiety disorders already noted last summer
A Italian study published in August 2020 and conducted on 400 infected patients in the Milan region, already showed an increase in post-traumatic stress at first, then depression in patients with Covid-19. According to this study coordinated by the Italian hospital center San Raffaele and published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, 55% of hospitalized patients with Covid-19 develop a psychiatric disorder one month after leaving the hospital.
In detail, 28% suffered from post-traumatic stress, 31% from depression, 42% from anxiety, 40% from insomnia and 20% of patients reported obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Women, if they are overall less at risk of dying from the coronavirus, on the other hand seem more affected by these psychiatric disorders. “This confirms what we already knew, namely the greater predisposition of women to be able to develop disorders of the anxious-depressive sphere, and leads us to hypothesize that this greater vulnerability may also be due to the different functioning of the immune system in its innate and adaptive components”, advances the psychiatrist Francesco Benedetti, main author of this study.
“The consequences of Covid-19 are before us, for social and psychological reasons, for several months and several years. to stress, anxiety (…) But in addition to the social and psychological reasons, we know that there are reasons related to the biology of the infection.The inflammatory consequences of the infection –the cytokine storm– leaves sequelae that increase the risk of psychiatric pathologies”, commented on France Interon August 12, the psychiatrist Marion Leboyer, director of the university departments of psychiatry of the Henri Mondor hospitals in Créteil (Val-de-Marne), director of the Fundamental Foundation.
double penalty
In short, to this unprecedented context mixed with anxiety linked to the virus, uncertainty about the future and economic difficulties, which obviously plays on the psychological state, is added a biological component: inflammation caused by the virus also affects the brain and could therefore leave psychic sequelae. “The next goal is to further research on biomarkers of inflammation to diagnose emerging disease conditions and monitor them over time.” recommend the authors of the Italian study.
Depressions, anxiety… In France, it’s taboo
But still it is necessary to diagnose psychic disorders. Indeed, some people, who have never been exposed before, can minimize them. The problem is that these pathologies (depression, anxiety) are stigmatized in France so they are not easy for patients to accept, nor to diagnose. “During acute exposure, there was an increase in delusional episodes, in people who had never been ill before. Then in the immediate aftermath of infection, anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress. And then depressive paintings”, detailed Marion Leboyer. “It must be explained that these pathologies are diseases like the others which are diagnosed, consequences of biological and psychological events and that they must be treated because they can be treated. You must accept to be treated”, she insists.
More informations :
To facilitate access to these professionals in case of need, a space dedicated to mental health was created on the Public Health France website to identify all remote assistance systems, classified according to themes (violence, bereavement, psychological distress, addictions, parenthood, etc.). The freephone number 0 800 130,000 dedicated to the psychological support set up by the government.
Sources:
- 6-month neurological and psychiatric outcomes in 236,379 survivors of COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study using electronic health recordsThe Lancet Psychiatry, April 6, 2021
- Ansia e depressione nei pazienti post COVID-19Ospedale San Rafaelle, August 4, 2020
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