KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — One in eight Covid-19 survivors are at risk of psychiatric or neurological illnesses within six months of testing positive for the infectious disease, a UK study has found.

The study by the University of Oxford found that the likelihood of psychiatric disorder rose when the patients had either been hospitalised due to the virus, or had a confirmed background of neurological diseases.

The researchers also noted that most diagnoses were more common after Covid-19 than after influenza or other respiratory infections — including stroke, acute bleeding inside the skull or brain, dementia and psychotic disorders.

The study’s lead author Dr Max Taquet told The Guardian that it was still unclear how long the risk of getting these conditions may persist after diagnosis.

"For diagnoses like a stroke or an intracranial bleed, the risk does tend to decrease quite dramatically within six months, but for a few neurological and psychiatric diagnoses we don’t have the answer about when it’s going to stop.”

The scientists used electronic health data to evaluate 236,379 hospitalised and non-hospitalised US Covid-19 survivors.

They then compared them with a group diagnosed with influenza and a cohort diagnosed with respiratory tract infections between January 20 and December 13, 2020.

The team of researchers also accounted for factors such as age, race, gender, socio-economic status and any existing physical and mental condition.

As a result, it was found that the likelihood of a Covid-19 survivor developing a neurological or psychiatric condition within six months was 33.6 per cent.

The study noted that nearly 13 per cent of survivors whose data was evaluated had, in fact, received their first such diagnosis within six months.

Taquet was also quoted saying that one in nine patients could be diagnosed with depression or stroke, despite not going to the hospital when they had Covid-19.

Although the study does not prove Covid-19’s direct association to these psychiatric and neurological conditions, the study suggested that the virus may have an impact on the brain and the central nervous system.

Researchers also acknowledged that a first diagnosis of a condition post-Covid-19 may not necessarily represent the first time that condition presented in a patient.

It was reported that the health records also lacked in information such as housing density, family size, employment and immigration status.

Dr Tim Nicholson, a psychiatrist and clinical lecturer at King’s College hospital who was not involved in the analysis told The Guardian that the findings would help researchers to look into neurological and psychiatric complications that require further careful study.

"I think particularly this raises a few disorders up the list of interests, particularly dementia and psychosis; and pushes a few a bit further down the list of potential importance, including Guillain-Barré syndrome.”