SynthesisPloS one2022
The effect of antidepressants on the severity of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Severe anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders worsen prognosis in patients with septic shock.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Investigation of COVID-19 Hospitalizations and Mortality Among Autistic People.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- Timing of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor use and risk for preterm birth and related adverse events: with a consideration of the COVID-19 pandemic period.The journal of maternal-fetal & neonatal medicine : the official journal of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Federation of Asia and Oceania Perinatal Societies, the International Society of Perinatal Obstetricians · 2024Article
- Association between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and mortality following COVID-19 among patients with Alzheimer's disease.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2024Article
- Is There such a Thing as Post-Viral Depression?: Implications for Precision Medicine.Biomolecules & therapeutics · 2024Review
- Early treatment with fluvoxamine, bromhexine, cyproheptadine, and niclosamide to prevent clinical deterioration in patients with symptomatic COVID-19: a randomized clinical trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Article
- Purinergic signaling: decoding its role in COVID-19 pathogenesis and promising treatment strategies.Inflammopharmacology · 2023Review
- Cortical GABA Levels Are Reduced in Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Treatment of 95 post-Covid patients with SSRIs.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Literature-Based Discovery to Elucidate the Biological Links between Resistant Hypertension and COVID-19.Biology · 2023Article
- Initiation of antidepressants in patients infected with SARS-COV-2: Don't forget Caution for "Paradoxical" Anxiety/Jitteriness syndrome-Commentary: Prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in COVID-19 infection needs caution.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionClinical Depression and the subsequent low immunity is a comorbidity that can act as a risk factor for the severity of COVID-19 cases. Antidepressants such as Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are associated with immune-modulatory effects, which dismiss inflammatory responses and reduce lung tissue damage. The current systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate the effect of antidepressant drugs on the prognosis and severity of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.
methodsA systematic search was carried out in PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, and Scopus up to June 14, 2022. The following keywords were used: "COVID-19", "SARS-CoV-2", "2019-nCoV", "SSRI", "SNRI", "TCA", "MAOI", and "Antidepressant". A fixed or random-effect model assessed the pooled risk ratio (RR) with 95% CI. We considered P < 0.05 as statistically significant for publication bias. Data were analyzed by Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software, Version 2.0 (Biostat, Englewood, NJ).
resultsFourteen studies were included in our systematic review. Five of them were experimental with 2350, and nine of them were observational with 290,950 participants. Eight out of fourteen articles revealed the effect of antidepressants on reducing the severity of COVID-19. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors drugs, including Fluvoxamine, Escitalopram, Fluoxetine, and Paroxetine, and among the Serotonin-norepinephrine inhibitors medications Venlafaxine, are reasonably associated with reduced risk of intubation or death. Five studies showed no significant effect, and only one high risk of bias article showed the negative effect of antidepressants on the prognosis of Covid-19. The meta-analysis of clinical trials showed that fluvoxamine could significantly decrease the severity outcomes of COVID-19 (RR: 0.763; 95% CI: 0.602-0.966, I2: 0.0).
findingsMost evidence supports that the use of antidepressant medications, mainly Fluvoxamine, may decrease the severity and improve the outcome in hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2. Some studies showed contradictory findings regarding the effects of antidepressants on the severity of COVID-19. Further clinical trials should be conducted to clarify the effects of antidepressants on the severity of COVID-19.
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