The headlines are terrifying.
The study behind the headlines was published in the Lancet on April 6, 2021 (yesterday, as of writing this)
I recommend you go read the study, but for a short recap I’m going to break it down here. The main take away point from the study is this:
The largest group of outcomes involving the brain from having COVID-19 are mental health issues.
And really, who could be surprised by that?
I’m in no way attempting to minimize the role of mental health. (Seriously, have you looked at the rest of this blog?) But, I did want to show the data behind those horrid headlines in the media.
Mental health is a serious matter, and the recent study demonstrates that the next wave to follow COVID-19 might be a series of mental health crises. I’m not the first person who has espoused this possibility. Nor, do I think I will be the last.
IF anything, this study has demonstrated that mental health is interwoven with physical health. The first order is to preserve life, but we must not abandon the fundamental human need to live.
The data below is taken from Table 2, of the study.
The table below shows the rates of each outcome for COVID-19 patients at the four levels of severity –
non-hospitalization, hospitalization, ICU admission, and delirium.
Additionally, the data is organized from most common to least common Based on the “No hospital” column.
| Outcome | no Hospital | hospital | ICU | Delerium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mood, anxiety, or psychotic disorder (any) | 23·59% | 24·50% | 27·78% | 36·25% |
| Anxiety disorder (any) | 17·51% | 16·40% | 19·15% | 22·43% |
| Mood disorder (any) | 13·10% | 14·69% | 15·43% | 22·52% |
| Mood, anxiety, or psychotic disorder (first) | 8·15% | 8·85% | 12·68% | 12·96% |
| Anxiety disorder (first) | 6·81% | 6·91% | 9·79% | 9·24% |
| Substance use disorder (any) | 5·87% | 8·56% | 10·14% | 11·85% |
| Insomnia (any) | 5·16% | 5·95% | 7·50% | 9·82% |
| Mood disorder (first) | 3·86% | 4·49% | 5·82% | 8·07% |
| Nerve, nerve root, or plexus disorders | 2·69% | 3·35% | 4·24% | 4·69% |
| Insomnia (first) | 2·23% | 3·14% | 4·24% | 5·05% |
| Substance use disorder (first) | 1·74% | 2·09% | 3·15% | 2·58% |
| Ischaemic stroke (any) | 1·33% | 4·38% | 6·92% | 9·35% |
| Psychotic disorder (any) | 0·93% | 2·89% | 2·77% | 7·00% |
| Dementia | 0·35% | 1·46% | 1·74% | 4·72% |
| Psychotic disorder (first) | 0·25% | 0·89% | 0·70% | 2·12% |
All the other outcomes, which were all physiological, were under 0.50% Those include: Intracranial hemorrhage, Ischaemic stroke, Parkinsonism, Guillain-Barré syndrome, Myoneural junction or muscle disease, and Encephalitis.
If you go read the study, which I recommend you will see that it was well constructed and thorough. I have a small niggle with the combination of outcomes they chose to examine – but in the end the brain is all about chemistry, so I can’t really complain.