To conduct the study, the researchers looked at the health records of 236,379 US coronavirus survivors.
They found that, within six months, 33.6% of the coronavirus survivors received a neurological or psychiatric diagnosis; 13% received such a diagnosis for the first time.
Patients who'd been hospitalized, and particularly those who'd experienced encephalopathy, a
broad term describing altered brain function or structure, were particularly at risk for mental illnesses.
Most of the conditions - including stroke, intracranial haemorrhage, dementia, and psychotic disorders - were more common than in a comparable group of patients who'd had the flu or a respiratory tract infection, the researchers found.