Aug. 22, 2024 – Unvaccinated people who get severe COVID-19 may face a heightened risk of developing mental health issues, with certain conditions becoming more common in the weeks after diagnosis, regardless of vaccination status.
Previous research has already linked COVID with an increased risk of mental illness. But a new study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, shows that the risk of depression is highest, although nearly all of about 10 common mental illnesses were more likely to be diagnosed after a COVID infection, with the greatest risk observed after hospitalization and when people weren’t vaccinated.
Among people who were hospitalized for COVID, the risk of depression after hospitalization was up to 16 times higher than the risk before or without COVID.
For the study, researchers examined health data for more than 18 million adults registered with primary care clinics in England and analyzed data across three groups:
- Unvaccinated people during the early days of the pandemic when vaccines weren’t yet available (January 2020 to June 2021)
- Unvaccinated people during the Delta variant era, when vaccines were widely available (June to December 2021)
- Vaccinated people during the Delta variant era, when vaccines were widely available (June to December 2021)
The researchers found that during the early days of the pandemic, before vaccines were available, all people diagnosed with COVID had a higher risk of mental illness, similar to risk rates among unvaccinated people later in the pandemic when vaccines became available.
“These findings suggest that vaccination may mitigate the adverse effects of COVID-19 on mental health,” the authors wrote.
Conditions they looked for included depression, general anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, addiction, self-harm, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and suicide. The risk of most of these was higher during the first 4 weeks after a COVID diagnosis.
People who were vaccinated for COVID were less likely to have these mental illnesses, although they often still had a higher risk after a COVID diagnosis. People who were hospitalized for COVID were the most at risk. Unvaccinated people’s heightened risk lasted up to a year if they had a severe case of COVID.
The researchers noted a number of limits to their study, including that unvaccinated people may have been less likely to seek medical care or to test for COVID, which may mean the study results underestimated some effects. Another limitation was that the study relied on health record data, which often has incomplete information about mental illness.
Also, people in the study with documented COVID diagnoses, particularly severe ones requiring hospitalization, may be more likely to have documented mental illness “due to greater contact with health services,” the authors wrote. “However, this is unlikely to fully explain adverse effects, given the persistent elevation of incidence of mental illnesses following COVID-19 with hospitalization and the variation across mental illnesses,” they said.
Free and confidential help from trained counselors is available 24/7 from the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Call or text 988 if you would like help for yourself or a loved one. You may also chat with a counselor online, or visit the Lifeline’s website to learn more about services and resources.
