Risk Of Mental Illness And Brain Disease Increases After Covid

THE FOG OF…WHAT? –

Aug 17, 2022 – People who have had Covid-19 are at an increased risk of mental health and neurological conditions—including seizures, dementia, psychotic disorders and brain fog—two years after infection, according to a large study published Wednesday in the Lancet Psychiatry medical journal, shedding further light on the long-term health consequences of the virus as countries around the world prepare to live with it. An analysis of electronic health records from nearly 1.3 million people diagnosed with Covid-19 over a two-year period suggests there is an increased risk of developing conditions like dementia, seizures or epilepsy, brain fog and psychotic disorders like schizophrenia compared to people who had other respiratory infections.

The study, which used mostly U.S. health records, also found that adults have an increased risk of depression or anxiety following Covid, though this was short lived and faded after one or two months. Children were also more likely to be diagnosed with some conditions like psychotic disorders after Covid-19, the researchers said, and were “notably at risk of epilepsy or seizures.”

Children were less likely to be diagnosed after Covid-19 than adults, however, and had no elevated risk of anxiety or depression even shortly after infection, the researchers said.