New Research Published in The Lancet Psychiatry Finds COVID-19 Associated with Increased Risk for Developing Psychiatric Disorders

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- TriNetX, the global health research network that revolutionizes clinical research and enables discoveries through the generation of real-world evidence (RWE), announced the most recent publication of clinical research data utilizing the company's network. The research, conducted by the University of Oxford and published in The Lancet Psychiatry, found an increased risk of adverse mental health consequences in those diagnosed with COVID-19, and that having a psychiatric disorder increases the chances of getting COVID-19. This is the first large-scale evidence that COVID-19 survivors are at an increased risk of psychiatric disorders.

"People have been worried that COVID-19 survivors will be at greater risk of psychiatric disorders, and our findings in a large and detailed study show this to be true," said Dr. Paul Harrison, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Theme Lead - NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), who led the study. "Services need to be ready to provide care, especially since our results are likely to be underestimates of the actual number of cases. We urgently need research to investigate the causes and identify new treatments."

The researchers also found that people with a pre-existing psychiatric diagnosis were 65% more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than those without, even when the known risk factors for COVID-19 were taken into account. 

"This finding was unexpected and needs to be further explored," said Dr. Max Taquet, NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow, who conducted the analyses. "In the meantime, having a psychiatric illness should be added to the list of risk factors for COVID-19."

The study, which was supported by the NIHR Oxford Health BRC, used the TriNetX Network to access de-identified electronic medical records (EMR) data of 62,254 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between Jan. 20, 2020 and Aug. 1, 2020. Study authors found that a diagnosis of COVID-19 was associated with increased incidence of a first diagnosis of anxiety, depression, or insomnia in the following 14 to 90 days compared to any other group of patients. The study also revealed an increase of the rate of dementia and more relapses in people with a history of psychiatric problems in COVID-19 patients. Overall, almost one in five patients received a psychiatric diagnosis within 90 days of contracting COVID-19. The article is currently available for download on The Lancet Psychiatry website at http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(20)30462-4/fulltext.

"This milestone builds on more than 200 previously-cited publications solidifying TriNetX as the most expansive collaborative source for real-world data. We continue to work closely with healthcare organizations, pharmaceutical companies, governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations to provide COVID-19 data," said Gadi Lachman, CEO of TriNetX. "Our goal is to help accelerate collaboration among the community for monitoring, surveillance, research, and clinical trial opportunities."

About TriNetX
TriNetX is the global health research network that connects the world of drug discovery and development from pharmaceutical company to study site, and investigator to patient by sharing real-world data to make clinical and observational research easier and more efficient. TriNetX combines real time access to longitudinal clinical data with state-of-the-art analytics to optimize protocol design and feasibility, site selection, patient recruitment, and enable discoveries through the generation of real-world evidence. The TriNetX platform is HIPAA and GDPR compliant. For more information, visit TriNetX at www.trinetx.com or follow @TriNetX on Twitter. 

Media Contact
TriNetX
Jennifer Haas
(857) 285-6052
[email protected] 

SOURCE TriNetX

Related Links

http://www.trinetx.com