1. Increased COVID-19 mortality in patients with schizophrenia: A retrospective study in Brazil.
- Author
-
Costa DFB, Rossignoli P, Pontarolli DRS, Junior PC, Assolari CL, Nasr AMLF, de Carvalho DS, Gadelha A, and Massuda R
- Subjects
- Humans, Brazil epidemiology, Male, Female, Adult, Retrospective Studies, Middle Aged, Young Adult, Adolescent, Clozapine therapeutic use, Aged, Risk Factors, Schizophrenia mortality, Schizophrenia drug therapy, Schizophrenia epidemiology, COVID-19 mortality, COVID-19 complications, Antipsychotic Agents therapeutic use, Antipsychotic Agents adverse effects, Obesity epidemiology, Obesity mortality
- Abstract
The risk that COVID-19 poses for mortality risk in individuals with schizophrenia in low- and middle-income countries has only been the subject of a few studies. In this retrospective study, we examined the standardized mortality ratio (SMR), by age group and sex, in a cohort of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (n = 20,417), with second-generation antipsychotics, in a South Brazilian State database (Paraná-Brazil). We performed a linkage with the Brazilian Mortality Information System database between 2020 and 2021. We also assessed in a logistic regression how clozapine could affect COVID-19 mortality controlling by sex, age, and presence of obesity. A secondary analysis was to compare mortality with SMR due to COVID-19 in individuals with and without obesity. Compared to the State population (8,850,682 individuals), those with schizophrenia had more than two times greater risk of dying from COVID-19 (SMR = 2.21, 95 % CI: 1.90-2.55). Between the ages of 16 and 29, their risk is more than ten times higher than the state population (SMR = 10.18, 95 % CI: 4.73-19.33). Obesity showed an almost twofold risk of dying from COVID-19 in the patient's group (OR = 1.89, 95 % CI: 1.39-2.57). Clozapine was not found as a protector or a risk factor for COVID-19 mortality. In Brazil, a middle-income nation, people with schizophrenia are more likely to die prematurely from COVID-19. The burden of schizophrenia is higher in younger and in patients with obesity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest AG has been a consultant/advisor and/or has received honoraria from Aché, Daiichi-Sankyo, Torrent, Cristalia, and Janssen. DFBC has been a consultant/advisor and/or has received honoraria from Torrent. All other authors declare no competing interests. RM has been a consultant/advisor and/or has received honoraria from Daiichi-Sankyo and Janssen., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF