Increased Risk of Breakthrough COVID-19 Infection: How Does Mental Health Contribute to Such Threat?

A new study recently found that people above 65 years old with substance abuse, bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders, anxiety, and adjustment disorder could experience an increased risk of up to 24 percent for breakthrough COVID-19.

As indicated in a EurekAlert! report, this new research led by UC San Francisco has shown that individuals vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 have a history of specific psychiatric conditions and have an increased risk of coronavirus. This finding may be associated with damaged immune responses and risky behaviors linked to some disorders.

The researchers, mainly from USCF and the San Francisco VA Health Care System, discovered that patients aged as earlier mentioned faced an increased risk of breakthrough COVID-19; for people below 65 years of age, "risks were up to 11 percent, compared to those who don't have any psychiatric history.

Data were adjusted for gender, race, age, ethnicity, and vaccine type for both age groups. They were adjusted well for smoking and underlying conditions like diabetes, obesity, sleep apnea, lung, cardiovascular, liver, kidney diseases, cancer, and HIV.

Mental Health Impact on Vaccinated People

In the study published in JAMA Network Open, the stud authors tracked data from over a quarter of a million United States Department of Veterans Affairs patients who had completed their vaccine regimen and at least a single test for SARS-CoV-2.

Just a little over 50 percent of the patients were given at least one psychiatric diagnosis within the past five years, and 14.8 percent developed breakthrough COVID, verified by a positive test.

According to Aoife O'Donovan, Ph.D., senior author of the study from the UCSF Weill Insitute for Neurosciences and the San Francisco VA Health System, their study suggests breakthrough infections in people who have psychiatric disorders cannot be explained by socio-demographic factors neither pre-existing conditions can explain them.

O'Donovan added it is plausible that immunity after vaccination wanes faster or more strongly for individuals with a psychiatric disorder, or they could have less protection against newer COVID-19 variants.

Increase Risk for Breakthrough COVID-19

This year, research led by the same UCSF study investigators discovered that people who have heightened anxiety and probable post-traumatic stress disorder, conditions linked to impulsivity, were most likely to be involved in behaviors that put them at higher risk for the virus.

The average age of more than 263,600 participants was 66, and 90.8 percent were male. In general, those with psychiatric disorders had a three-percent increased risk for breakthrough COVID-19 infections last year, when adjusted for both pre-existing conditions and demographic functions, compared with participants who don't have a psychiatric history.

Nonetheless, the risk was 24-percent higher for those above 65 years with substance abuse, 23-percent higher for those who have psychiatric disorders, 16-percent higher for bipolar disorder, 14 percent for adjustment disorder, and 12 percent for anxiety.

Surprisingly, given the greater occurrence of breakthroughs among younger individuals, this research showed substantially smaller impacts in the below-65s group.

Furthermore, according to a similar Medical Xpress report, risks were 10-percent lower "in participants with psychotic disorders" compared to people who don't have a psychiatric diagnosis, a decline that O'Donovan attributed to probably lower socialization among younger individuals who have psychotic disorders compared with older individuals who may be less socially isolated due to their "greater burden of ill health and contacts with caregivers."

Related information about Mental Health and COVID-19 is shown on Psych Hub's YouTube video below:

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