A team of scientists from the US has identified the main link between schizophrenia and the frequency of death in patients with coronavirus.
Patients with schizophrenia are about 2.7 times more likely to die from coronavirus than people without this mental disorder. This is stated in a study by American scientists, which was published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
It is noted that experts studied the medical records of 26,540 patients from New York from March to May 2020, among which 7,348 people were infected with the coronavirus.
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Scientists have divided patients with mental illness into three categories – with schizophrenic spectrum disorders, mood and anxiety disorders, to compare the outcome of their illness with other patients with COVID-19 who did not have such disorders.
So, out of more than seven thousand infected with coronavirus, 75 patients suffered from schizophrenia, 564 – from mood disorders, another 360 – from anxiety. At the same time, 864 patients with COVID-19 died or were transferred to hospitals within 45 days from the date of diagnosis.
By adjusting the results for gender, age, race, and known risk factors, the researchers found that people with schizophrenia were about 2.7 times more likely to die from COVID-19. At the same time, scientists did not find a link between mood or anxiety disorders and death from coronavirus.
As the authors of the study noted, reduced life expectancy in people with schizophrenia is usually associated with other medical risk factors. At the same time, experts indicated that further research is needed on the connection between schizophrenia and mortality from COVID-19.
Scientists have previously named the unusual ability COVID-19. The discovery may explain the positive tests for a new type of coronavirus infection in those who have recovered.