People with Schizophrenia are Four Times Likely to Die

Americans with certain mental disorders are at an increased risk of dying from COVID-19. Researchers from the University of Texas found that people who suffer from Schizophrenia are four times as likely to die of Covid than the general population.Those who have anxiety or mood disorders are almost three times as likely to die from the virus as people without these conditions. People with psychiatric disorders were also found to contract COVID-19 at lower rates, which researchers believe is a result of social isolation associated with the conditions.

Researchers, who published their findings on Tuesday in JAMA Network Open, gathered data from 2.5 million Americans.Among that group, 3,350 had Schizophrenia, 26,610 were diagnosed with a mood disorder and 18,550 had anxiety. They compared infection and mortality rates of the groups with rates of the general population.

People who had Schizophrenia and mood disorders were found to be at a decreased risk of infection from Covid, being 10 percent less likely to contract the virus.’These rates may be influenced by a more limited exposure to SARS-CoV-2 due to social isolation,’ the research team wrote. People with anxiety, though, were found to have a 5% increased risk of contracting the virus, compared to the general population.

Experts found that people who suffer from Schizophrenia were 3.74 times more likely to die from Covid than the general population. Eight percent of schizophrenic people in the study who contracted Covid ended up dying from it.