First-episode Psychiatric Disorder Risk from SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Clinical Analysis with Chinese Psychiatric Inpatients

The extensive spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) throughout China in late 2022 has underscored the correlation between this virus and severe psychiatric disorders. However, there remains a lack of reported clinical and pathological features. Accordingly, we retrospectively reviewed the electronic medical records of psychiatric inpatients for seven days from early January 2023. Twenty-one inpatients who developed first-episode psychiatric disorders within two weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection were recruited, while 24 uninfected first-episode psychiatric inpatients were selected as controls. Comparative analyses of clinical manifestations, routine laboratory tests, and imaging examinations were performed. Our investigation demonstrated a 330% increase in the incidence of first-episode psychiatric inpatients after SARS-CoV-2 infection in 2023, compared with the preceding year without SARS-CoV-2 infections. Most cases exhibited psychiatric symptoms within one week of SARS-CoV-2 infection, which resolved after approximately two weeks, with no residual symptoms after three months. One-way ANOVA demonstrated a significant difference in the highest fever temperature between inpatients with and without psychotic symptoms. Infected inpatients displayed elevated levels of interleukin-4, interleukin-8, and interferon-α, but decreased levels of eosinophils and basophils. These findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may contribute to the development of psychiatric disorders, likely mediated by the virus-induced inflammatory response and neuronal dysfunction in the context of psychological distress.