Subscribe
The latest psychology and neuroscience discoveries.
My Account
  • Mental Health
  • Social Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Psychopharmacology
  • Neuroscience
  • About
No Result
View All Result
PsyPost
PsyPost
No Result
View All Result
Home Exclusive COVID-19

Psychological distress may increase your risk of contracting COVID-19 and worsen symptom severity, study suggests

by Beth Ellwood
January 22, 2022
in COVID-19, Mental Health
(Image by Tumisu from Pixabay)

(Image by Tumisu from Pixabay)

Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
Stay informed on the latest psychology and neuroscience research—follow PsyPost on LinkedIn for daily updates and insights.

A longitudinal study conducted during the pandemic has found evidence that people with greater psychological distress are not only more likely to get infected with COVID-19, but more likely to experience severe symptoms. The findings were published in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

A wealth of scientific findings have suggested an intricate link between mental and physical health. For example, previous viral challenge studies have exposed healthy volunteers to respiratory viruses and found that psychological stress is tied to the likelihood of catching a virus and also the severity of symptoms.

Study authors Kavita Vedhara and her colleagues recognized the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to re-explore the link between psychological distress and susceptibility to illness. Given that the novel coronavirus appears to manifest itself differently in different people and to infect some and not others, the researchers proposed that psychological variables might explain some of this puzzling variability.

“I have always been interested in whether or not (and how) psychological factors influence health and, in particular, whether the effects on health are clinically relevant i.e., do they influence who gets a disease and/ or how we respond to disease,” said Vedhara, a professor of health psychology at the University of Nottingham

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the researchers collected three waves of data from UK residents. The data included assessments of depression, stress, anxiety, and positive mood. The surveys were completed in April 2020, during the first national lockdown, between July and September of 2020, alongside the easing of restrictions, and in November and December 2020, during the second national lockdown. A total of 1,087 participants responded during both the first and last waves.

At the third wave only, the respondents reported whether they had ever tested positive for COVID-19. They also reported whether they believed they had ever contracted COVID-19 regardless of whether they had taken a test. This second measure was included since limited testing capacity during some months of the pandemic meant that many respondents may not have had access to tests. Respondents additionally reported which COVID-19 symptoms they experienced and how severe their symptoms were.

The researchers conducted various regression analyses to explore whether reported psychological distress (lower positive mood and higher depression, anxiety, and stress) would predict reported COVID-19 infection and symptom severity. Importantly, they controlled for sociodemographic variables that might influence risk of infection, such as age, gender, COVID-19 risk category, and essential worker status.

The results revealed that participants who reported greater distress during April 2020 or during the summer of 2020 were more likely to report believing they had contracted COVID-19 when asked at wave 3. Moreover, they also reported a greater number of symptoms and reported symptoms that were more severe. The same pattern of findings held when the researchers used aggregated measures of psychological distress experienced in April and in the summer of 2020.

“We all know the effects of this pandemic on our emotional health have been brutal. But these findings show that, as has been observed many times before in the context of other viruses, that distress is not only a consequence of living with the risk of COVID-19, but may also be a risk factor for who gets it and how severe the disease is,” Vedhara told PsyPost.

When only analyzing participants who reported positive test results for COVID-19, findings trended in the same direction. However, the effect did not reach significance, possibly because the subgroup of respondents who tested positive for COVID-19 was small, at only 34 respondents.

The researchers theorize possible reasons why psychological distress might be associated with COVID-19 outcomes. On the one hand, it may be that psychological distress is impacting health behaviors, such as alcohol intake and sleep quality, which is in turn affecting vulnerability to infection. Alternatively, psychological distress may be triggering the release of cortisol, which could be suppressing the immune system and increasing the risk of contracting COVID-19. The authors note that this is only speculation, based on evidence suggesting elevated cortisol levels in people infected with COVID-19.

The findings were limited since the measure of COVID-19 infection was self-reported, and Vedhara and her colleagues mention “an urgent need to examine whether our results are replicated in cohorts where data on verified cases of infection are available.” They further suggest that, “future work focusing on laboratory as­sessment of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and/or verified test results would permit greater confidence in the asso­ciations described here.”

“We had to rely on self-reported COVID-19 infection in this study because at the time testing for the disease was not widely available,” Vedhara explained. “So the next step in this work would be to see if the relationships we have seen with self-reported infection are replicated when we look at verified infection.”

The study, “Psychological Predictors of Self-reported COVID-19 Outcomes: Results From a Prospective Cohort Study”, was authored by Kieran Ayling, Ru Jia, Carol Coupland, Trudie Chalder, Adam Massey, Elizabeth Broadbent, and Kavita Vedhara.

TweetSendScanShareSendPin2ShareShareShareShareShare

RELATED

Ketamine repairs reward circuitry to reverse stress-induced anhedonia
Mental Health

Can sunshine make you happier? A massive study offers a surprising answer

July 9, 2025

Can something as simple as the weather really change how we feel about our lives? A sweeping new study from China explores the long-debated link between sunshine and well-being, using data from thousands of people across the country.

Read moreDetails
Ketamine repairs reward circuitry to reverse stress-induced anhedonia
Anxiety

Virtual reality meditation eases caregiver anxiety during pediatric hospital stays, with stronger benefits for Spanish speakers

July 9, 2025

Researchers at Stanford found that a six-minute guided meditation delivered through a VR headset lowered anxiety levels in parents of hospitalized children. The intervention outperformed standard relaxation methods, with Spanish-speaking caregivers experiencing the greatest benefit.

Read moreDetails
Ketamine repairs reward circuitry to reverse stress-induced anhedonia
Autism

Prenatal exposure to “forever chemicals” linked to autistic traits in children, study finds

July 9, 2025

Children exposed to high levels of PFAS during early pregnancy may face an increased risk of autistic traits by age four, especially if they also have a higher inherited risk for autism, according to new findings.

Read moreDetails
Ketamine repairs reward circuitry to reverse stress-induced anhedonia
Depression

Ketamine repairs reward circuitry to reverse stress-induced anhedonia

July 9, 2025

New research shows a single low, non-anesthetic dose of ketamine revived pleasure seeking in chronically stressed mice by restoring weakened excitatory synapses onto nucleus accumbens dopamine D1 neurons, pinpointing a circuit mechanism for the drug’s rapid antidepressant effect.

Read moreDetails
Psychedelic drug DOI activates specific brain neurons to ease anxiety
Depression

Choline imbalance in the brain linked to with cognitive symptoms in young depression patients

July 8, 2025

Researchers have identified metabolic differences in the brains of young adults with depression who also experience cognitive impairment. The study sheds light on how chemical imbalances in key brain regions may contribute to thinking and memory problems in depression.

Read moreDetails
Epigenetic age acceleration moderates the link between loneliness and chronic health conditions
Dementia

Sedentary time linked to faster brain aging in older adults, study finds

July 8, 2025

A large observational study found that sedentary time in older adults predicted worsening memory, shrinking brain structures, and slower mental processing over seven years, regardless of how physically active participants were.

Read moreDetails
The most popular dementia videos on TikTok tend to have the lowest quality, study find
Addiction

People with short-video addiction show altered brain responses during decision-making

July 8, 2025

People who frequently use short-video apps like TikTok may show reduced loss sensitivity and impulsive decision-making, according to a new neuroimaging study that links addictive use patterns to changes in brain activity during risky choices.

Read moreDetails
Probiotic supplements may improve working memory
ADHD

Probiotics show promise for reducing hyperactivity in young children with autism and ADHD

July 7, 2025

Researchers are exploring the gut-brain connection to support children with autism and ADHD. A new clinical trial reports a specific probiotic blend reduced parent ratings of hyperactivity and impulsivity in younger children, suggesting a potential new therapeutic target.

Read moreDetails

SUBSCRIBE

Go Ad-Free! Click here to subscribe to PsyPost and support independent science journalism!

STAY CONNECTED

LATEST

Can sunshine make you happier? A massive study offers a surprising answer

New study links why people use pornography to day-to-day couple behavior

Virtual reality meditation eases caregiver anxiety during pediatric hospital stays, with stronger benefits for Spanish speakers

Fascinating new advances in psychedelic science reveal how they may heal the mind

Dysfunction within the sensory processing cortex of the brain is associated with insomnia, study finds

Prenatal exposure to “forever chemicals” linked to autistic traits in children, study finds

Ketamine repairs reward circuitry to reverse stress-induced anhedonia

Neuroscientists decode how people juggle multiple items in working memory

         
       
  • Contact us
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms and Conditions
[Do not sell my information]

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Cognitive Science Research
  • Mental Health Research
  • Social Psychology Research
  • Drug Research
  • Relationship Research
  • About PsyPost
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy