Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33026219›Full record

ArticleWorld psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA)2021

Increased risk of COVID-19 infection and mortality in people with mental disorders: analysis from electronic health records in the United States.

QuanQiu Wang, Rong Xu, Nora D Volkow

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 356 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
356citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
46.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

356 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 626 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Vaccination and clozapine use: a systematic review and an analysis of the VAERS database.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025
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  6. Psychotropic drug repurposing for COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023
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296 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

QuanQiu WangCenter for Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Rong XuCenter for Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Nora D VolkowNational Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Case Western Reserve University · USNational Institutes of Health · US

Funding

Neurobiology of Substance Abuse and AddictionZIAAA000550 · NIAAA · NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON ALCOHOL ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM · PI VOLKOW, NORA D. · 2009 to 2025
$115.1M
Combine computational prediction, network analysis and genetic screening in C elegans to uncover neurodegenerative causes in Alzheimer's DiseaseR01AG061388 · NIA · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · PI CHEN, SHU G., XU, RONG · 2018 to 2022
$3.4M
An Integrated Reverse Engineering Approach Toward Rapid drug Re positioning for Alzheimer's DiseaseR01AG057557 · NIA · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · PI XU, RONG · 2017 to 2021
$2.8M
Rapid reverse translational drug repositioningDP2HD084068 · NICHD · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · PI XU, RONG · 2014 to 2014
$2.4M
Collision of Alzheimers disease and COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: risks, outcomes, disparities and treatmentsRF1AG076649 · NIA · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · PI DAVIS, PAMELA B, XU, RONG · 2022 to 2022
$2.3M
Repositioning of Clinically Approved Drugs toward the Prevention and Risk Evaluation of Early Cataract ProgressionR01EY029297 · NEI · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · PI MONNIER, VINCENT M, XU, RONG · 2019 to 2021
$2.0M
Construct large-scale phenomes of disease and drugs and develop data-driven systems approaches to understand genetic links between Alzheimer's disease and Neuropsychiatric symptomsR56AG062272 · NIA · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · PI XU, RONG · 2018 to 2019
$1.6M
Collision of Alzheimers disease and COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: risks, outcomes, disparities and treatmentsR01AG076649 · NIA · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · PI Rong Xu · 2025 to 2026
$1.6M
Characterize multifaceted interactions between COVID-19 and alcohol use disorder based on real-time analysis of electronic health records of 62 million adult patientsR01AA029831 · NIAAA · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · PI DAVIS, PAMELA B, XU, RONG · 2021 to 2023
$1.1M
NIAAA NIH HHS R01 AA029831NIA NIH HHS R01 AG061388NIA NIH HHS R01 AG076649NIA NIH HHS R56 AG062272NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG076649
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Concerns have been expressed that persons with a pre-existing mental disorder may represent a population at increased risk for COVID-19 infec-tion and with a higher likelihood of adverse outcomes of the infection, but there is no systematic research evidence in this respect. This study assessed the impact of a recent (within past year) diagnosis of a mental disorder - including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia - on the risk for COVID-19 infection and related mortality and hospitalization rates. We analyzed a nation-wide database of electronic health records of 61 million adult patients from 360 hospitals and 317,000 providers, across 50 states in the US, up to July 29, 2020. Patients with a recent diagnosis of a mental disorder had a significantly increased risk for COVID-19 infection, an effect strongest for depression (adjusted odds ratio, AOR=7.64, 95% CI: 7.45-7.83, p<0.001) and schizophrenia (AOR=7.34, 95% CI: 6.65-8.10, p<0.001). Among patients with a recent diagnosis of a mental disorder, African Americans had higher odds of COVID-19 infection than Caucasians, with the strongest ethnic disparity for depression (AOR=3.78, 95% CI: 3.58-3.98, p<0.001). Women with mental disorders had higher odds of COVID-19 infection than males, with the strongest gender disparity for ADHD (AOR=2.03, 95% CI: 1.73-2.39, p<0.001). Patients with both a recent diagnosis of a mental disorder and COVID-19 infection had a death rate of 8.5% (vs. 4.7% among COVID-19 patients with no mental disorder, p<0.001) and a hospitalization rate of 27.4% (vs. 18.6% among COVID-19 patients with no mental disorder, p<0.001). These findings identify individuals with a recent diagnosis of a mental disorder as being at increased risk for COVID-19 infection, which is further exacerbated among African Americans and women, and as having a higher frequency of some adverse outcomes of the infection. This evidence highlights the need to identify and address modifiable vulnerability factors for COVID-19 infection and to prevent delays in health care provision in this population.

Indexed as

access to careADHDbipolar disorderCOVID-19depressiondiscriminationethnic disparitygender disparityhospitalizationmental disordersmortalityrisk of infectionschizophrenia

Identifiers

PMID33026219
PMCPMC7675495
OpenAlexW3091776202

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.