Symptoms of illness include trouble breathing, brain fog, chronic coughing, changes in taste and smell, extreme fatigue, difficulty performing everyday functions, and trouble sleeping. .
“We found that participants who had two or more types of emotional distress before infection had a 50% higher risk of having Covid longer,” said study co-author, a researcher in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard TH Chan Public School. said author Siwen Wang, Ph.D. Boston Health.
“Higher levels of mental distress before Covid infection increased the risk of longer Covid by 50%,” Wang said. I reported my symptoms.”
Some may use the results of this study to support the hypothesis of post-Covid illness. Dr. Wesley Erie, professor of medicine and critical care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, said it was a psychosomatic disorder that was widely believed early in the pandemic. He was not involved in research.
Instead, the study’s message should be that people with pre-existing mental distress are on the verge of a long Covid “disaster,” according to Vanderbilt’s severe disease, brain dysfunction. and Ely, co-director of the Survivorship Center.
“Imagine 10 people are racing and 5 have a head start,” Ealy said. We’re nearing the unfortunate finish line of lengthening Covid.”
mind-body connection
The idea that mental distress can negatively affect the body is nothing new.It’s also a two-way lane. Having a chronic illness is strongly associated with the development of depression and other mental disorders.
In common non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, “depression/anxiety/emotional distress appears to play a role,” said Dr. Psychiatry, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Dr. Joseph Bienvenu said: ,on mail.he I wasn’t involved in the research.
Emotional distress has also been shown to weaken the immune system, said study co-author Dr. Angela Roberts is an Associate Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Stanford University, California.
“Your brain and your immune system are very closely interconnected,” said Roberts. Studies show it doesn’t work.”
some patients continue to suffer
Participants were asked about their mental health in April 2020. Early pandemic. They continued to complete the mental health survey monthly for six months, then quarterly. Narrowed down.
“This study is particularly impressive in that participants’ baseline characteristics were assessed independently of time from later Covid symptoms,” said Johns Hopkins. Bienvenu said.
Compared with those without emotional distress, those with depression and loneliness were 1.32 times more likely to develop long-term symptoms of Covid. (mainly people of color, women, and those with asthma) were 1.37 times more likely to develop long-term Covid, the study found.
Anxiety was associated with greater risk, 1.42 times more likely, but those with higher levels of stress were nearly 50% more likely to develop post-Covid symptoms, study found. Wang, co-author of
Psychological distress and long-term association with Covid remain important, Even after researchers controlled for demographics, weight, smoking status, and history of asthma, cancer, diabetes, hypertension or cholesterol.
In addition, all types of mental distress, except loneliness, were associated with an increased risk of being unable to complete activities of daily living due to prolonged extended periods of time. COVID symptoms.
Many long-term infections with COVID-19 are mild and clear up within months, but some patients continue to suffer for long periods of time. Aaron Friedberg, Ph.D., a clinical assistant professor of internal medicine who works in a post-corona recovery program at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, said some people have not regained their quality of life for more than two years after the pandemic. .
