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Nearly 20% of the COVID-19 recovered patients diagnosed with mental illness, study finds

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According to the New York Post, the most common mental conditions encountered by COVID-19 recovered patients include anxiety, depression, and insomnia.

As scientists are probing the influence of the novel coronavirus on people across the globe, a new study reveals that about twenty percent of coronavirus patients later develop a new mental illness, within a span of three months since they tested positive for the virus.

The research, which was published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal, was conducted by analyzing electronic health records of over 62,000 COVID-19 patients in the US. The researchers said that the group was twice as likely to suffer from a new mental illness than any of the other groups of patients during the same period.

According to The Guardian, the study, which was led by researchers at the University of Oxford and NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre, remarked that people who were known to have pre-existing mental health diagnoses were 65% more likely to develop mental health issues following the infection by the coronavirus than those without such mental conditions. “People who have been worried that COVID-19 survivors will be at greater risk of mental health problems and our findings….show this to be likely”, said Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at Britain’s Oxford University.

The study’s findings suggest that measures are to be taken to lessen the mental health toll of the pandemic. Michael Bloomfield, a consultant psychiatrist at University College London, who was not directly involved with the research, said that “This is likely due to a combination of the psychological stressors associated with this particular pandemic and the physical effects of the illness”

ARTICLE: LIDIYA SHILU

SCIENCE/HEALTH EDITOR: KYLE SMITH

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