COVID-19: Patients could suffer from psychosis | News | The sun

The meta-analysis of 14 scientific studies looked at the impact of outbreaks like 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 are really in line with 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 entirely plausible to me and even probable that an increase in inflammatory processes could lead to a relapse of psychosis. When we talk about COVID-19, we are talking about an inflammatory storm, so I think that’s perfectly plausible biologically. “

Strong data on the psychosis-inflammation link and from longitudinal studies demonstrate that the level of inflammatory markers in adolescence, before the onset of psychosis, influences the risk of later development of a psychotic disorder, has t -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 a significant inflammatory process that is not due to the treatment for 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 diseases with an inflammatory component are also involved in psychosis, says Dr. Roy.

“It suggests that psychotic disorders as well as diseases like diabetes share an inflammatory component,” he said.

Stress has also been implicated in the psychotic relapse and even in the development of the first psychosis, probably through inflammatory mechanisms.

On a related note, medicine has long known that a mother’s having certain types of infections during pregnancy increases the risk of her children developing psychosis later.

However, specifies Dr. Roy, in certain cases, we are dealing with viruses which do not necessarily infect the child, which do not have an effect on the central nervous system, “so that suggested that the inflammatory response was in question”.

“We realize more and more 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 it in a massive way because there are so many people infected at the same time that it shows. “

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