Scientists from Harvard found that people who reported in a survey that they felt worried, depressed, or lonely had a greater chance of being hospitalized after a COVID-19 diagnosis.
The research is published in Psychological Medicine and was conducted by Andrea L. Roberts et al.
In the study, the team analyzed survey data from more than 54,000 female nurses and their offspring.
Between April 2020 and April 2021, slightly more than 3,600 study participants tested positive for SAR-CoV-2 infection.
The researchers found that those who reported chronic (long-term) depression before the pandemic were 72% more likely to be hospitalized after their diagnosis for COVID-19.
Those who scored high on likely indicators of depression (probable depression) when they began the study were 81% more likely to be hospitalized than those who did not.
Being very worried about COVID-19 was associated with a 79% increase in risk for hospitalization.
Moreover, those who reported persistent feelings of loneliness were 81% more likely to be hospitalized than those who did not.
Feelings of anxiety and stress were not linked to a higher risk for hospitalization.
The team says their findings suggest that psychological risk factors may increase hospitalization risk as much as physical risk factors, such as high cholesterol and hypertension.
They call for additional research to determine if treatment to reduce depression and other forms of psychological distress, in addition to standard treatments, might reduce the severity of COVID-19.
If you care about depression, please read studies about supplement that could reduce depression, and anxiety, depression should not be taken as mental disease.
For more information about COVID, please see recent studies about a new way to stop COVID-19 infection, and results showing people died of COVID-19 have these 3 common symptoms.
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