The COVID-19 pandemic may trigger negative consequences for the mental health of the general population, including patients and health professionals, new research suggests.
According to Danish researchers, a review of 43 published scientific articles on the subject, including recent studies targeting SARS-CoV-2, show the impact of mental health symptoms triggered by the pandemic. The new findings were released in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.
In 20 of the studies reviewed by researchers, the state of well-being among health professionals was thoroughly examined. In their findings, abnormally high levels of anxiety, depression, and insomnia were evident.
In two studies out of the 43, patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 were examined for mental health adversities. In those findings, almost all of the patients, or 96 percent, experienced post-traumatic stress after falling severely ill. Depressive symptoms were also evident among those patients with the novel coronavirus.
“Many more and better studies are needed, but the results are still relevant,” the co-authors wrote in their report.
“We need more high-quality studies to make any final conclusions about a link between mental symptoms and COVID-19. However, our results indicate that COVID-19 may have an impact on the brain of those infected, and that there are derived effects of the pandemic on the mental health among both healthcare professionals and the population.”
COVID-19 is currently the subject of vigorous research, with only a few studies released so far probing the mental consequences associated with the pandemic taking a toll on the global population.
“We believe that research in this area is extremely important, as knowledge is a prerequisite for dealing with any mental consequences of COVID-19,” the study’s co-authors concluded.
