COVID-19 mortality among veterans with serious mental illness in the veterans health administration.
J Psychiatr Res
; 163: 222-229, 2023 07.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37230006
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Persons with serious mental illness (SMI schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder) experience increased risk of mortality after contracting COVID-19 based on the results of several international evaluations. However, information about COVID-19 mortality risk among patients with SMI in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has been limited, precluding identification of protective factors. The current evaluation was conducted to assess COVID-19 mortality risk among VHA patients with SMI and to evaluate potential protective factors in mitigating mortality risk following a positive COVID-19 diagnosis.METHODS:
National VHA administrative data was used to identify all patients (N = 52,916) who received a positive COVID-19 test result between March 1, 2020, and September 30, 2020. Mortality risk was assessed by SMI status via bivariate comparisons and multivariate regression analyses.RESULTS:
In unadjusted analyses, VHA patients with SMI overall and patients with bipolar disorder in particular did not experience increased mortality risk in the 30 days following a positive COVID test, although patients with schizophrenia had increased risk. Within adjusted analyses, patients with schizophrenia remained at increased mortality risk (OR = 1.38), but at reduced levels relative to previous evaluations in other healthcare settings.CONCLUSIONS:
Within VHA, patients with schizophrenia, but not those with bipolar disorder, experience increased mortality risk in the 30 days following a positive COVID-19 test. Large integrated healthcare settings such as VHA may offer services which may protect against COVID-19 mortality for vulnerable groups such as persons with SMI. Additional work is needed to identify practices which may reduce the risk of COVID-19 mortality among persons with SMI.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Veteranos
/
COVID-19
/
Trastornos Mentales
Tipo de estudio:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Psychiatr Res
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article