Stressed, Depressed & Anxious People Tend to Suffer Longer COVID-19 Symptoms, Research Suggests

Depression - Sputnik International, 1920, 08.09.2022
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COVID-19 has been present in our lives for almost three years now, but scientists are still busy not only studying its nature and ways to prevent newer and more dangerous mutations, but also reliable ways to treat it.
According to a recent study, those who experienced stress, anxiety, loneliness, depression, or worry about COVID-19 before becoming infected were more likely to experience long-lasting effects of their illness.
A Harvard research team examined survey responses from over 55,000 people in the United States and Canada from April 2020 to November 2021 for the study, which was published on Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. More than 3,000 people in that group claimed to have contracted SARS-CoV-2, and roughly 1,400 claimed to have protracted COVID-19, which is defined as COVID-related symptoms lasting four weeks or more.
According to the findings, those who reported experiencing psychological distress prior to contracting the disease had a 32% to 46% higher probability of developing long COVID-19 than those who did not.
Additionally, there was a 50% higher risk among individuals who reported having high levels of two or more types of psychological distress, such as both depression and anxiety. More so than other established physical risk factors, such as obesity, asthma, and hypertension, the study discovered a greater correlation between extended COVID-19 symptoms and psychological discomfort.
Researchers found that mental wellness can influence physical COVID-19 symptoms. However, they underlined that tested patients experienced very serious long-term COVID-19 symptoms that developed as a result of their infection.
There are a few restrictions on the new study. The stress levels of the respondents to the study may have been higher than those of the general population due to several of them working as health care professionals during the early months of the pandemic. If so, the study's findings might exaggerate how important stress is in the development of long COVID-19.
Second, since testing was not readily accessible at the start of the study, participants self-reported their COVID-19 cases. The third potential criticism is that some long-lasting COVID-19 symptoms overlap with those of psychological distress, making it challenging to determine their etiology.
In order to focus on symptoms that are typically unrelated to psychological disorders, such as a chronic cough, shortness of breath, or difficulty smelling or tasting, the Harvard researchers isolated the overlapping symptoms, such as exhaustion, brain fog, and memory issues.
The researchers reportedly asserted that the following elements could be a link between stress and extended COVID-19:
Stress can cause chemicals to be activated that alert the body to produce inflammation. A decreased immune response brought on by stress can also make it more difficult for the body to fight off diseases.
And some depressed individuals may even produce antibodies that wrongly target their own cells.
According to a June research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 19% of US individuals who have contracted COVID-19 exhibit long-lasting symptoms. Some people's symptoms are at times crippling.
In the new study, however, 800 participants stated that their lengthy COVID-19 was limiting them from partaking in normal daily activities.
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