Post-COVID sequelae in mental health: a narrative review

Abstract

Background: The emergence of COVID-19 and its evolution to the global pandemic brought negative consequences holistically in people, which includes the affectation of mental health with a prevalence of anxious and depressive symptomatology. Objective: Our study performs a narrative review of published studies on post-covid sequelae in mental health. We performed a narrative review of published studies on post-coital sequelae in mental health. Method: A narrative review was performed using PubMed Literature Search (January 01, 2020, to May 15, 2021). A review by title and abstract, and full text, was performed to include articles in the study. Results and discussion: A total of 12 studies were entered into our review. The studies reported that around 50% of the patients infected by Covid-19 presented mental sequelae, with the first place being occupied by anxiety, with phobic anxiety being a type of anxiety described in several participants; in second place was depression, and in a certain percentage a combined prevalence of these two pathologies was found. In addition, loneliness and hopelessness were identified as risk factors in mental health effects, which holistically affects people who are still in the process of recovery, interfering with their daily activities. Conclusions: We found a high tendency of patients with anxiety and depression post-COVID-19, and a combination of both in a large number of cases. Our study allows us to identify possible gaps in knowledge that require further research since the literature is still limited in the area of post-COVID sequelae studies in mental health.