Psychological distress may make you more susceptible to long COVID

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-09-08 01:00

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People with psychological distress before catching COVID-19, including symptoms of depression, anxiety, worry about COVID-19, loneliness, and perceived stress, were more likely to develop long COVID after infection than those who did not experience psychological distress, according to a US study of more than 3,000 people. And they were also more likely to experience impairments in daily life a year after COVID-19 infection. Exactly why psychological distress should increase the risk of long COVID remains unclear, the scientists say, and future research should look into any potential biological basis for the link.

Media release

From: JAMA

Association of Psychological Distress Prior to Infection With Risk of Post–COVID-19 Conditions

About The Study: In this study of individuals followed up for more a year starting in April 2020, researchers found pre-infection psychological distress, including symptoms of depression, anxiety, worry about COVID-19, loneliness, and perceived stress, was strongly associated with the risk of post–COVID-19 conditions, sometimes called long COVID, among those infected with SARS-CoV-2.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Psychiatry

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Medicine, USA

Funder: This research was supported by a grant to Dr Roberts from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (3R01HD094725-02S1). Other support includes grants U01HL145386, R24ES028521, U01 CA176726, R01 CA67262, and R01 HD057368 from the National Institutes of Health; the Dean’s Fund for Scientific Advancement Acceleration Award from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness Evergrande COVID-19 Response Fund Award. Dr Branch-Elliman is supported by Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Service funds (IIR 20-076, INV 20-099, IIR 20-101).

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