Severe outcomes from COVID-19 up with preexisting neuropsych conditions

People with neuropsychiatric conditions and/or associated treatment have an increased risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19 and from other severe acute respiratory infections (SARIs), according to a study published online Nov. 9 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Tom Alan Ranger, Ph.D., from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues examined whether neuropsychiatric conditions are associated with severe outcomes from COVID-19 infection and other SARIs in prepandemic (2015 to 2020) and contemporary (2020 to 2021) longitudinal cohorts (11,134,789 adults [223,569 SARI cases] and 8,388,956 adults [58,203 severe COVID-19 cases], respectively).

The researchers observed an association for diagnosis and/or treatment for neuropsychiatric conditions other than dementia with an increased likelihood of a severe outcome from SARI (hazard ratios, 1.16 and 2.56 for anxiety diagnosis and psychotic disorder diagnosis and treatment, respectively) and COVID-19 (hazard ratios, 1.16 and 2.37 for anxiety diagnosis and psychotic disorder treatment, respectively). Compared with SARI, those with COVID-19 had a higher effect estimate for severe outcome with dementia (hazard ratio, 2.85 versus 2.13).

"The adjusted results comparing severe outcomes from COVID-19 disease and other SARI largely seemed similar, suggesting that the associations were not disease specific," the authors write. "Although dementia was associated with a higher increased risk of severe outcome from COVID-19 than for SARI, well-documented impacts of the pandemic on specific care settings mean that this result should be interpreted with caution."

Several authors disclosed financial ties to industry.

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