Increased risk of psychiatric sequelae of COVID-19 is highest early in the clinical course

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has been shown to increase the risk of adverse mental health consequences. A recent electronic health record (EHR)-based observational study showed an almost two-fold increased risk of new-onset mental illness in the first 90 days following a diagnosis of acute COVID-19. METHODS: We used the National COVID Cohort Collaborative, a harmonized EHR repository with 2,965,506 COVID-19 positive patients, and compared cohorts of COVID-19 patients with comparable controls. Patients were propensity score-matched to control for confounding factors. We estimated the hazard ratio (COVID-19:control) for new-onset of mental illness for the first year following diagnosis. We additionally estimated the change in risk for new-onset mental illness between the periods of 21–120 and 121–365 days following infection. FINDINGS: We find a significant increase in incidence of new-onset mental disorders in the period of 21–120 days following COVID-19 (3.8%, 3.6–4.0) compared to patients with respiratory tract infections (3%, 2.8–3.2). We further show that the risk for new-onset mental illness decreases over the first year following COVID-19 diagnosis compared to other respiratory tract infections and demonstrate a reduced (non-significant) hazard ratio over the period of 121–365 days following diagnosis. Similar findings are seen for new-onset anxiety disorders but not for mood disorders. INTERPRETATION: Patients who have recovered from COVID-19 are at an increased risk for developing new-onset mental illness, especially anxiety disorders. This risk is most prominent in the first 120 days following infection. FUNDING: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).