Depression And Loneliness May Increase The Risk Of Long Covid
September 19, 2022 18:36
The cases of coronavirus have seen a huge decline across the globe. The deaths and the intensity of virus has come down which turned out to be a relief. A new study told that a person who is going through anxiety, loneliness and depression before being infected with coronavirus will have a strong chance of developing long Covid for those with good mental health. The study has been conducted by Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health researchers. They found that the psychological distress before coronavirus infection is directly associated with a risk of long Covid. It is independent of asthma, smoking and other health issues or physical conditions.
Siwen Wang, a researcher in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School and lead author told "We were surprised by how strongly psychological distress before a Covid-19 infection was associated with an increased risk of long Covid. Distress was more strongly associated with developing long Covid than physical health risk factors such as obesity, asthma, and hypertension". All these findings are published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. Long Covid refers to long-term effects of the SARS-CoV-2 that brings coronavirus to the body. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in USA says that there would be lot of health problems and this can last for weeks and even months.
The study was conducted on 54,000 people in April 2020. They are asked about their psychological distresses. 3000 participants are tested positive for coronavirus and they are asked about the duration of the symptoms and the type of symptoms. Issues like Anxiety, worry, depression and loneliness were associated with 32-46 percent increased risk of long covid.