Prevalence of mental illness among COVID-19 survivors in South Korea: nationwide cohort

• Published in: BJPsych Open Vol. 7; no. 6; p. e183
• Main Authors: Park, Hye Yoon, Song, In-Ae, Lee, So Hee, Sim, Min young, Oh, Hong Sang, Song, Kyoung-Ho, Yu, Eun-Seung, Park, Hye Youn, Oh, Tak Kyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.11.2021
• Subjects: Age; Anxiety disorders; Codes; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; depressive disorders; Disease; Eating disorders; Emotional disorders; epidemiology; Gender; Health insurance; Hospitals; Infections; Mental disorders; Mental Health Services; Mood disorders; Oxygen therapy; Personality disorders; Population; post-traumatic stress disorder; Psychosis; Public health; Regression analysis; risk assessment; Variables; South Korea; epidemiology; risk assessment; post-traumatic stress disorder; depressive disorders; Anxiety disorders
• ISSN: 2056-4724; 2056-4724
• DOI: 10.1192/bjo.2021.1001

Mental illness among survivors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) during the post-illness period is an emerging and important health issue. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of mental illness and the associated factors for its development among COVID-2019 survivors. From 1 January to 4 June 2020, data were extracted from the National Health Insurance Service COVID-19 database in South Korea. Patients with COVID-19 were defined as those whose test results indicated that they had contracted the infection, regardless of disease severity. COVID-19 survivors were defined as those who recovered from the infection. The primary end-point was the development of mental illness, which was evaluated between 1 January and 1 December 2020. A total 260 883 individuals were included in this study, and 2.36% (6148) were COVID-19 survivors. The COVID-19 survivors showed higher prevalence of mental illness than the control group (12.0% in the COVID-19 survivors 7.7% in the control group; odds ratio (OR) = 2.40, 95% CI 2.21-2.61, < 0.001). Additionally, compared with the control group, the no specific treatment for COVID-19 group (OR = 2.23, 95% CI 2.03-2.45, < 0.001) and specific treatment for COVID-19 group (OR = 3.27, 95% CI 2.77-3.87, < 0.001) showed higher prevalence of mental illness among survivors. In South Korea, COVID-19 survivors had a higher risk of developing mental illness compared with the rest of the populations. Moreover, this trend was more evident in COVID-19 survivors who experienced specific treatment in the hospital.