LONG COVID, MENTAL HEALTH, AND GUT SYMPTOMS – HOW ARE THEY ARE LINKED?
LONG COVID, MENTAL HEALTH, AND GUT SYMPTOMS – HOW ARE THEY ARE LINKED?
By Tara Troy, MD
Check out this fascinating article about the incredibly complex connections between mental health, gut symptoms, and COVID-19 infection. In short, individuals who had pre-existing mental health issues were 16x more likely to have persistent gut and long COVID type symptoms after COVID-19 infection:
“Mental health symptoms in people who recovered from COVID-19 were associated with post-infection gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, a survey-based study found. In an analysis of nearly 750 individuals who had COVID-19, those with mental health symptoms either before or after their infection were more than 16 times more likely to have post-COVID GI symptoms (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 16.5, 95% CI 6.97-38.9), reported John Blackett, MD, MS, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues.”
MedpageToday: In Long COVID, GI and Mental Health Symptoms ‘Go Hand in Hand’
“New mental health symptoms following infection were also tied to post-COVID GI symptoms (aOR 6.16, 95% CI 4.21-9.01), according to the findings in Gastroenterology. This is consistent with prior studies showing that psychological distress is a risk factor for developing a post-infection functional GI disorder, which has not previously been evaluated after COVID,” Blackett told MedPage Today. “Clinicians should be aware of the high prevalence of GI symptoms in patients with ‘long COVID,’ and that these symptoms often go hand in hand with psychiatric symptoms.”
“We do not know whether the psychiatric symptoms are a cause or a result of the GI symptoms, but we suspect it is likely to be both,” he added.
Overall, COVID-related GI symptoms were reported in 29% of respondents at 6 months following their COVID-19 diagnosis, including symptoms of heartburn (16%), constipation (11%), diarrhea (9.6%), abdominal pain (9.4%), and nausea or vomiting (7%). Notably, 11% of patients reported having a GI symptom as the “most bothersome current symptom.”
“…Mental health symptoms were less common before versus after a COVID-19 diagnosis (5% vs 37%). Anxiety and sadness were the most commonly cited mental health symptoms in either scenario.”
At Comprehensive Gastrointestinal Health, we don’t have all of the answers to long-COVID or, more generally, post-infectious functional gastrointestinal disorders (new or worsened irritable bowel syndrome or functional dyspepsia after an infection, like food poisoning or traveler’s diarrhea), but we have many tools and resources to try to lessen the frequency and intensity of symptoms. In addition, we are vigilantly watching all the latest research to stay up to date on the best tools to combat this longer lasting impact of the pandemic. Check out compgihealth.com for more information or call 224.407.4400 for an appointment.
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