One In Three Suffer From ‘Brain Disease’ After Fighting Off COVID-19 Infection

One in three people who survive COVID-19 has been diagnosed with “brain disease.”

According to scientists’ findings on Tuesday, a third of people who overcome the Coronavirus see the long-term brain and psychiatric disorders afterward. CBS News reports researchers studied more than 236,000 patients, most of whom are in the U.S. Their research led them to find 34 percent of survivors end up with a neurological or psychological condition within six months of infection.

Fourteen of the neurological and mental health disorders were analyzed—the study, which was published Tuesday. Anxiety was the most common aftereffect of diagnosis, the outlet reports. Anxiety was seen in 17 percent of survivors. In less severe cases, mood disorders, substance misuse, and insomnia were seen in people following diagnosis.

Rarer diagnoses included stroke and dementia. While those cases would be considered rare, researchers said it is not impossible.

“Our results indicate that brain diseases and psychiatric disorders are more common after Covid-19 than after flu or other respiratory infections, even when patients are matched for other risk factors,” said Maxime Taquet, an academic clinical fellow in psychiatry at the University of Oxford, and a co-author of the new report, CNN’s Zamira Rahim reports.