About 18% of people with COVID-19 later diagnosed with psychiatric disorder, study finds

Nearly a fifth of people with COVID-19 received a psychiatric diagnosis in the first 14-90 days after their initial infection diagnosis, according to a study in The Lancet Psychiatry. Researchers identified 62,354 people who had COVID-19 between January and August and investigated whether the disease was linked to higher rates of future psychiatric disorders, dementia, and insomnia. They compared the risk with six other health events, including influenza and other respiratory tract infections. According to the data, 18% of people who had COVID-19 were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder in the first 90 days after virus infection. Anxiety was the most commonly diagnosed disorder within that group, and nearly 6% had never had a psychiatric diagnosis previously.