Open AccessCharacteristics and Outcomes of Psychiatric Inpatients With Severe Mental Illness and COVID-19
Author(s) -
Murat Yalçın,
Ekin Sönmez Güngör,
Mine Ergelen,
Didem Beşikçi Keleş,
Melike Yerebakan Tüzer,
Tolga Baş,
Mustafa Güneş,
Davut Genç,
Betül Kırşavoğlu,
Merve Metin,
Alper Bülbül,
Asli Kayacan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the journal of nervous and mental disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.749
H-Index - 123
eISSN - 1539-736X
pISSN - 0022-3018
DOI - 10.1097/nmd.0000000000001450
Subject(s) - covid-19 , medicine , mental illness , psychiatry , comorbidity , severity of illness , prospective cohort study , mental health , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Recent studies indicated that psychiatric inpatients with severe mental illness (SMI) are at a greater risk of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19. However, there is still little data about the impact of comorbid COVID-19 infection on the course and outcome of acute exacerbations in this population. We conducted a prospective historically matched case control study. The sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of acute psychiatric inpatients with SMI and comorbid COVID-19 (n = 21) were compared with those of historically-matched non-COVID-19 controls with SMI (n = 42). The outcomes for acute inpatients with SMI and COVID-19 were also investigated. The new-onset SMI rate was relatively higher (23.8%) in the COVID-19 group, which has characteristics similar to those of the non-COVID-19 group except for working status (p < 0.05). The COVID-19 group had a high rate of relapse (47.6%) within 6 months of discharge. Our study suggests that patients with SMI who contracted SARS-CoV-2 may have a higher rate of new-onset mental disorder. Considering the high rate of relapse during the pandemic, chronically ill patients with SMI and COVID-19 should be closely monitored after discharge.