Severe COVID-19 increases the risk of schizophrenia

(Psychiatry Research) The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 invades the central nervous system, impacting the mental health of COVID-19 patients. We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis to assess the potential causal effects of COVID-19 on schizophrenia. Our analysis indicated that genetic liability to hospitalized COVID-19 was associated with an increased risk for schizophrenia (OR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.02−1.20, P = 0.013). However, genetic liability to SARS-CoV-2 infection was not associated with the risk of schizophrenia (1.06, 0.83−1.37, P = 0.643). Severe COVID-19 was associated with an 11% increased risk for schizophrenia, suggesting that schizophrenia should be assessed as one of the post-COVID-19 sequelae.