COVID-19 may increase risk of psychiatric disorder months later: Study

Washington: COVID-19 may increase the risk of developing a psychiatric disorder in the months after infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a study conducted in the US.

Researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) in the US found that COVID-19 patients had about 25 per cent increased risk of developing a psychiatric disorder in the four months following their infection, compared with people who had other types of respiratory tract infections.

The finding, published in the journal World Psychiatry, supports previous research on psychiatric disorders among post-COVID patients, though the current study found a smaller effect than the earlier studies.