Psychotropics use tied to lower risk of COVID-19 and related deaths, study says

China: A recent study published in European Neuropsychopharmacology has revealed a significant association between psychotropic use and a lower risk of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2) infection and deaths related to COVID-19.

However, the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection was notably lower in patients treated with diazepam. Treatment of patients with sertraline significantly lowered the risk of COVID-19-related deaths.

COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease) is a highly life-threatening and contagious confection caused by SARS-CoV-2. The COVID-19 pandemic markedly impacted older adults, and many reports have cited concerns related to potential psychiatric sequelae of COVID-19, but there is no clarity on the actual effects of psychotropics on COVID-19. Psychotropics are the cornerstone of treating mental illnesses; many mental illnesses need lifelong medication to prevent a recurrence. Most of these agents have physiological effects on the immune system, brain, and gastrointestinal tract.

Against the above background, Yue Ma from the School of Public Health at Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China, and colleagues aimed to assess the association between psychotropics prescription and the risk of COVID-19-related death and SARS-CoV-2 infection among participants investigated for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 in UK Biobank before October 18, 2021.

The psychotropics comprised 18 types of medications. Among 168,173 participants who underwent testing for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, 18.2% were positive, and 8.5% of participants used psychotropics.

The study led to the following findings:

• Among 30,577 participants infected with SARS-CoV-2, 3.9% were COVID-19-related deaths, and 8.3% used psychotropics.
• In multivariate logistic regression, psychotropics use was significantly associated with the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (odds ratio [OR], 0.95) and COVID-19-related death (OR, 0.78).
• Diazepam use was significantly associated with a 31% lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR, 0.69).
• The use of sertraline was significantly associated with an 89% lower risk of COVID-19-related death (OR, 0.11).

"Psychotropic use is linked with a lower risk of confirmed COVID-19 and COVID-19-related deaths," the researchers wrote. "Also, gabapentin use was associated with a lower risk of death and morbidity related to COVID-19 and sertraline use was tied to an extremely lower risk of COVID-19-related death."

"The large variation of psychotropics offers a toolbox for potential antivirals for host-directed therapy, and more clinical trials are required to confirm our findings," they concluded.

Reference:

Ma Y, Li S, Yang H, Zhang Y, Li H, Xu F, Hou Y, Zhang X, Wang Y. Effect of psychotropics on the risk of COVID-19 in middle-aged and older adults. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2022 November 23 [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2022.11.009.