COVID-19 survivors may have higher risk of post-traumatic stress disorder: Report

*Researchers found the COVID-19 survivors are more likely to experience fundamental changes to brain function that ultimately increases their risk for developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

Ever since the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic late 2019, several studies have underscored the ways that consumers’ mental health has taken a hit across the world.

Now, researchers from Georgia State University, in the United States (US), discovered that survivors of COVID-19 may have an increased risk of developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Researcher Vince Calhoun stated: “When we looked within the COVID-19 survivor group, we also found a significant relationship between the severity of their post-traumatic stress symptoms and how often their brain patterns are in that state.

“If they spend more time in that state, they tend to have higher values on those symptom scales.”

In respect of the long-term impacts on brain function in consumers for the study, the researchers analysed fMRI scans from 50 COVID-19 survivors six months after they were infected with the virus to see if there were any noticeable changes to brain function.

The participants also answered questions about their mental health and PTSD-related symptoms.

Eventually, the participants were said to have reported several symptoms associated with PTSD, and the risk for the condition was highest when participants also experienced changes to brain connectivity patterns.

The researchers also explained that brain connectivity patterns can change over time in major ways.

According to the experts, COVID-19 survivors are more likely to experience a wide variety of different connections between visual capabilities and sensorimotor functions that ultimately increases their risk for developing PTSD.

Although anxiety symptoms were common among all recovered COVID-19 patients, the team found that women were more likely than men to develop PTSD-related symptoms. Moving forward, the team plans to do more research to better understand how brain function changes before and after a COVID-19 infection.