Schizophrenia increases risk of dying from COVID-19

According to preliminary data, the risk of death among patients with mental illness infected with novel coronavirus is about 2.7 times higher than that of healthy people, Report informs, citing a study in the JAMA Psychiatry magazine.

These results are based on the medical records of 7,348 patients infected with the coronavirus in New York. Of these, 75 had schizophrenia, 564 had suffered from affective disorders, and 360 from anxiety. Thus, 864 patients died within 45 days after diagnosis.

After clarifying additional medical risk factors, age, sex, and other outcomes, it was found that a diagnosis of schizophrenia increased the risk of death among COVID-19 cases.