Study finds link between mental health and long COVID-19

Editor's Note

A new Harvard study published Wednesday, September 7, in JAMA Psychiatry finds that people who felt stressed, anxious, lonely, depressed or worried about getting infected with COVID-19 were at higher risk of developing long-term symptoms, NBC September 8 reports.

The study looked at survey responses from nearly 55,000 people in the US and Canada from April 2020 to November 2021. Among these participants, 3,000 said they’d had COVID-19 and 1,400 said they had long COVID, meaning symptoms lasting four weeks or longer. Furthermore, 800 people said long COVID was preventing them from participating in daily activities.

People who reported psychological distress before getting infected had a 32% to 46% risk of long COVID compared to people who did not report this distress. Participants that reported two or more types of psychological distress had a 50% increased risk. The researchers said that these findings indicate that mental health can have an effect on COVID-19 symptoms. However, the study comes with some limitations, including lack of a diverse sampling group, self-reporting, overlapping symptoms, and more.

Researchers are unsure whether reducing stress could lower an individual’s risk of long COVID, or if mental health care could serve as long COVID treatment. However, the study found a stronger association between long COVID and psychological distress than long COVID and some physical risks such as obesity, asthma, and hypertension.