Abstract:
The Long COVID syndrome has now been documented clearly in the literature, but whether or not psychiatric symptoms are prominent is unclear. We performed a retrospective chart review of all patients receiving medical care during the pandemic in an outpatient Long-COVID specialty clinic that serves a large racial and ethnic minority population. As many as 44% of patients had symptoms that necessitated referrals to psychiatrists, predominantly depression or anxiety. Spanish speaking patients had greater COVID severity (48%) than did predominantly English speakers (15%). We conclude that the long COVID syndrome is predominantly a cluster of physical symptoms that are sequelae of the viral infection.
Source: Clifton Chow, Will Schleyer, Lynn E DeLisi. The Prevalence of Psychiatric Symptoms and their correlates as part of the Long-Covid Syndrome. Psychiatry Research, 2023, 115166, ISSN 0165-1781, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115166. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178123001178