The meta-analysis of 14 scientific studies examined the impact of epidemics such as SARS-CoV-2, Middle East respiratory syndrome or swine flu on people with psychosis.
Between 1 and 4% of patients infected with a virus would then present with psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations or imaginary voices.
“These results really go in the direction of all the data we had on the importance of the inflammatory component in psychoses,” commented psychiatrist Marc-André Roy, who teaches at Laval University.
“It seems to me quite plausible and even probable that an increase in inflammatory processes could lead to a relapse of psychosis. When we talk about COVID-19, we’re talking about an inflammatory storm, so I think it’s perfectly biologically plausible. ”
Strong data on the psychosis-inflammation link from longitudinal studies show that the level of inflammatory markers in adolescence, before the onset of psychosis, influences the risk of the subsequent development of a psychotic disorder, -he adds.
In addition, people who present for a first psychotic incident, and who have never been treated for psychosis, also have high inflammatory markers, continues Dr. Roy.
“It tells us that there is an important inflammatory process that is not due to the treatment of psychosis,” he said. And when we treat psychosis, we also see a decrease in the levels of inflammatory markers. ”
Certain genes that increase the risk of inflammatory diseases are also involved in psychosis, says Dr. Roy.
“It suggests that psychotic disorders and illnesses like diabetes share an inflammatory component,” he said.
Stress has also been implicated in psychotic relapse and even in the development of the first psychosis, probably through inflammatory mechanisms.
Similarly, medicine has long known that having a mother with certain types of infections during pregnancy increases the risk that her children will develop psychosis later.
However, specifies Dr. Roy, in certain cases, we are dealing with viruses which do not necessarily infect the child, which have no effect on the central nervous system, “so that suggested that the inflammatory response was in question”.
“We are increasingly realizing that the consequences go beyond the direct effect of the virus on a given tissue to affect several other organs,” he concluded. It is not unique to COVID-19, but with COVID-19 we are discovering this in a massive way because there are so many people infected at the same time that it shows it well. ”
–
