Mood swings, sleep disorders, fears: Those who contract Covid-19 have a higher risk of mental and neurological problems compared to flu patients. Why?
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Fear plays a big role in corona times. Fear of the virus, of the disease, of isolation. But a previous infection with Sars-CoV-2 can also evidently lead to fears. According to a study published in the journal “The Lancet Psychiatry”, corona patients have neurological or psychological problems more often than people with other respiratory diseases. The risk of anxiety disorders or mood swings is therefore 44 percent higher than after the flu.
For their study, researchers led by psychiatrist Paul Harrison from Oxford University evaluated the digital data of more than 236,000 US patients, including more than 62,000 people with Covid-19. They examined how often those affected suffered from psychological or neurological problems in the 14 to 90 days after diagnosis.
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For comparison, they checked how often people developed psychological or neurological problems after being infected with influenza viruses or with another respiratory disease. “Our results show that brain diseases and psychiatric disorders occur more frequently after Covid-19 than after the flu,” said co-author Max Taquet from Oxford University. Even compared to other respiratory diseases, the risk of Covid-19 infection was 16 percent higher.