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Study: U.S. covid patients face more mental health issues; Excela Health bracing for uptick

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Jan 02, 2021

Jan. 1—Researchers at the University of Oxford published a study reporting the first large-scale evidence that covid-19 survivors are at increased risk of anxiety or depression.

The study looked at electronic health records for 69 million U.S. residents, including more than 62,000 covid-19 cases.

In the three months following a positive covid-19 test, 1 in 5 survivors was found to have received a diagnosis of anxiety, depression or insomnia for the first time. This is about twice as likely as for other groups of patients over the same period.

Dr. Roger McIntyre, CEO of alternative medicine business incubator Altmed and head of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance'sScientific Advisory Board, said post-covid mental health relies on a number of factors.

"There's two 'Rs' that come to mind: how much resiliency does a person have, and how much risk are they exposed to?" McIntyre said. "The risk is very similar: it's the virus. But resiliency is very different. People are homeless, people don't have health care or they have little social support."

The isolation covid-19 patients experience — typically involving quarantine as the result of a positive test — can put added stress on them, particularly without a social support network of friends and family.

"We released a paper asking people about the feeling of loneliness," McIntyre said. "We found that 30% of people report themselves as categorically lonely, and loneliness is serious business. ... So people are being told to stay home, and for many people that means not having contact with anyone, and we need to think about how to address that from a public health perspective."

Dr. George Mizikar, behavioral health services director for Excela Health, said he expects to see an uptick in mental health issues now that Westmoreland County is seeing the same type of infection spikes as other areas.

"That happens with many individuals who have a significant medical condition," Mizikar said. "We talk about post-partum depression, post-cancer diagnosis, post-cardiac surgery: there's anxiety and depression associated with those also. So, it's not that surprising to see someone with a covid diagnosis, even when they recover, to have those on a regular basis."

Mizikar said Excela doctors are seeing "a lot of people who are very afraid of covid, and we're seeing more people requesting services related to anxiety and depression, even in the general population."

Oxford professor Paul Harrison, who led the study, said the 1-in-5 numbers it produced are likely a low estimate of the actual figure.

"People have been worried that covid-19 survivors will be at greater risk of mental health problems, and our findings in a large and detailed study show this to be likely," Harrison said. "Services need to be ready to provide care, and we urgently need research to investigate the causes and identify new treatments."

At Excela, one of the moves that helped was a quick transition to telemedicine.

"We're finding that allows us to have even better, more consistent contact with patients," Mizikar said. "It also takes away some of the other challenges — if someone can't get a ride to the clinic, we can 'come to them.'"

"It's increasing the support system," Excela spokeswoman Robin Jennings said.

That support system can make a big difference in boosting the resiliency that McIntyre talked about.

"The World Health Organization has defined 'health' as physical health, mental health and social well-being, and we need all three," he said. "If you're someone who's post-covid and you're tired, you're fatigued, you lack motivation, if you're not really yourself, you may want to see a care provider."

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick at 724-850-2862, pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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