ArticlePsychological medicine2023
Depression, worry, and loneliness are associated with subsequent risk of hospitalization for COVID-19: a prospective study.
Article in Psychological medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- COVID-19 risk, course and outcome in people with mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analyses.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of a Health Education Intervention for COVID-19 Prevention in Latinx Communities: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.American journal of public health · 2022Trial
- Differential Factors Associated With the Presence of Persistent Symptoms in Individuals Diagnosed With Long COVID: Protocol for a Longitudinal Matched Case-Control Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Observational
- Association between change in alcohol use reported during routine healthcare screening and change in subsequent hospitalization: A retrospective cohort study.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Exposures and Cognitive Function in Middle-Aged Women.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Association between childhood abuse and risk of post-COVID-19 conditions: Results from three large prospective cohort studies.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Article
- Depression and risk of infectious diseases: A mendelian randomization study.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- Pathways linking workplace violence and suicidal ideation/non-suicidal self-injury among nurse staff: the mediating role of loneliness and depressive symptoms.BMC nursing · 2024Article
- COVID-19 admissions and mortality in patients with early inflammatory arthritis: results from a UK national cohort.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2023Observational
- Distress Signals: Age Differences in Psychological Distress before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Association of social isolation and loneliness with risk of incident hospital-treated infections: an analysis of data from the UK Biobank and Finnish Health and Social Support studies.The Lancet. Public health · 2023Article
- Review
- Is there an association between depression, anxiety disorders and COVID-19 severity and mortality? A multicenter retrospective cohort study conducted in 50 hospitals in Germany.Journal of psychiatric research · 2023Article
- Older age and depressive state are risk factors for re-positivity with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPre-pandemic psychological distress is associated with increased susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, but associations with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity are not established. The authors examined the associations between distress prior to SARS-CoV-2 infection and subsequent risk of hospitalization.
methodsBetween April 2020 (baseline) and April 2021, we followed 54 781 participants from three ongoing cohorts: Nurses' Health Study II (NHSII), Nurses' Health Study 3 (NHS3), and the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) who reported no current or prior SARS-CoV-2 infection at baseline. Chronic depression was assessed during 2010-2019. Depression, anxiety, worry about COVID-19, perceived stress, and loneliness were measured at baseline. SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization due to COVID-19 was self-reported. Relative risks (RRs) were calculated by Poisson regression.
results3663 participants reported a positive SARS-CoV-2 test (mean age = 55.0 years, standard deviation = 13.8) during follow-up. Among these participants, chronic depression prior to the pandemic [RR = 1.72; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.20-2.46], and probable depression (RR = 1.81, 95% CI 1.08-3.03), being very worried about COVID-19 (RR = 1.79; 95% CI 1.12-2.86), and loneliness (RR = 1.81, 95% CI 1.02-3.20) reported at baseline were each associated with subsequent COVID-19 hospitalization, adjusting for demographic factors and healthcare worker status. Anxiety and perceived stress were not associated with hospitalization. Depression, worry about COVID-19, and loneliness were as strongly associated with hospitalization as were high cholesterol and hypertension, established risk factors for COVID-19 severity.
conclusionsPsychological distress may be a risk factor for hospitalization in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Assessment of psychological distress may identify patients at greater risk of hospitalization. Future work should examine whether addressing distress improves physical health outcomes.
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