Findings from a recent multinational cohort study revealed that patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 face significantly higher risks of psychiatric and neuropsychiatric disorders within the first 6 months postinfection. 

Yi Chai, of Shenzhen University and The University of Hong Kong, and colleagues analyzed data from 303,251 patients with COVID-19 and 22,108,925 without the virus across France, Italy, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S., according to their article published in BMC Medicine.

They employed an exact matching approach based on age and sex to identify target and comparator cohorts using electronic medical records and claims data. They then followed participants from the index date until the end of continuous enrollment or the last health care encounter.

The researchers found that those with COVID-19 had an increased risk of developing various psychiatric disorders within the first 6 months after infection (hazard ratios [HRs] ranged from 1.14 in Germany to 1.89 in Italy). Specifically, heightened risks for depression, anxiety disorders, and sleep disorders were consistently observed across nearly all countries studied.

During the medium- (6 months to 1 year) and long-term (1 to 2 years) periods, higher risks were primarily observed for depression, anxiety disorders, and sleep disorders in France, and dementia in the U.K. 

These "increased risks of psychiatric and neuropsychiatric outcomes were consistently observed only within, and not after, the 6-month observation period across all databases, except for certain conditions in specific countries," the researchers wrote.

They concluded that further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms that contribute to these psychiatric outcomes, as well as to develop interventions and policies to mitigate COVID's long-lasting impacts.

Full disclosure information can be found in the published study.