Question
Do people with major psychiatric disorders have greater odds of testing positive for COVID-19 and dying from it?
Findings
This cross-sectional study based on nationwide electronic health record data from 2 535 098 participants showed that the schizophrenia and mood disorder cohorts had significantly lower rates of positivity (9.86%) than the anxiety disorder cohort (11.17%) and the general population (11.91%). Conversely, patients with schizophrenia had a higher rate of death from COVID-19 than the reference group or those with mood disorders or anxiety disorders.
Meaning
This study suggests that patients with major psychiatric disorders may be more likely to have medical comorbidities associated with worse COVID-19 outcome and yet have a higher mortality rate independent of comorbidities.
Importance
People with major psychiatric disorders are more likely to have comorbidities associated with worse outcomes of COVID-19. This fact alone could determine greater vulnerability of people with major psychiatric disorders to COVID-19.
Objective
To assess the odds of testing positive for and mortality from COVID-19 among and between patients with schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders and a reference group in a large national database.
Design, Setting, and Participants
This cross-sectional study used an electronic health record data set aggregated from many national sources in the United States and licensed from Optum with current and historical data on patients tested for COVID-19 in 2020. Three psychiatric cohorts (patients with schizophrenia, mood disorders, or anxiety disorders) were compared with a reference group with no major psychiatric conditions. Statistical analysis was performed from March to April 2021.
Exposure
The exposures observed include lab-confirmed positivity for COVID-19 and mortality.
Main Outcomes and Measures
The odds of testing positive for COVID-19 in 2020 and the odds of death from COVID-19 were measured.
Results
The population studied included 2 535 098 unique persons, 3350 with schizophrenia, 26 610 with mood disorders, and 18 550 with anxiety disorders. The mean (SD) age was 44 (23) years; 233 519 were non-Hispanic African American, 1 583 440 were non-Hispanic Caucasian; and 1 580 703 (62%) were female. The schizophrenia cohort (positivity rate: 9.86%; adjusted OR, 0.90 [95% CI, 0.84-0.97]) and the mood disorder cohort (positivity rate: 9.86%; adjusted OR, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.87-0.99]) had a significantly lower rate of positivity than the anxiety disorder cohort (positivity rate: 11.17%; adjusted OR, 1.05 [95% CI, 0.98-1.12) which was closer to the reference group (11.91%). After fully adjusting for demographic factors and comorbid conditions, patients with schizophrenia were nearly 4 times more likely to die from the disease than the reference group (OR, 3.74; 95% CI, 2.66-5.24). The mood disorders COVID-19 cohort had a 2.76 times greater odds of mortality than the reference group (OR, 2.76; 95% CI, 2.00-3.81), and the anxiety disorders cohort had a 2.39 times greater odds of mortality than the reference group (OR, 2.39; 95% CI, 1.68-3.27).
Conclusions and Relevance
By examining a large database while controlling for multiple confounding factors such as age, race and ethnicity, and comorbid medical conditions, the present study found that patients with schizophrenia had much increased odds of mortality by COVID-19.