Characteristics of psychiatric manifestations among hospitalized COVID-19 patients and their correlation with disease severity - a cross sectional study.

Purpose: COVID-19 severity, characteristics of psychiatric symptoms using a brief psychiatric rating scale, and sociodemographic variables were explored and evaluated.

Methods: An exploratory study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, from July 13th to July 26th 2020, in an isolation facility at the COVID-designated Sola hospital in Ahmedabad, India. A total of 201 inpatients diagnosed with COVID-19 by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were included in this study. We assessed the presence and severity of psychiatric symptoms using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS).

Results: Of the 201 COVID-19 patients, 63 (31.3%), 36 (18%), 16 (8%) and 14 (7%) experienced anxiety, tension, somatic concern and depressed mood respectively. The effect of the severity of COVID-19 on the mean of the total BPRS score was statistically signi- ficant (F = 17.2, p = 0.000). In the severe COVID-19 group, the mean of the total BPRS score (22.6 ± 4.8) was significantly higher than in the moderate (20.3 ± 4.0) and mild (19.1 ± 2.2) COVID-19 groups. High levels of serum ferritin, IL-6 and D-dimer were associated with the presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms like hallucinatory behavior and disorientation.

Conclusions: The majority of COVID-19 patients experienced anxiety, tension and somatic concern. The presence of serious psy- chiatric symptoms like hallucinatory behavior and disorientation were predominantly seen in severe COVID-19 patients with signi- ficantly high serum inflammation and coagulation markers.