Correlation of CORADS scoring with Psychiatric Co-morbidities in acute phase of COVID infection: A cross—sectional study

Background: There is a mutual relationship between COVID infection and mental illness. There is increase in the overall prevalence of psychiatric conditions in this pandemic. Yet, there is dearth in the literature on the relation between psychiatric morbidity and severity of COVID (assessed by CORADS score). Hence, we aimed to assess the various psychiatric conditions seen in the COVID patients, and the association of various factors with the CORADS severity score. Materials and Methods: It is a cross-sectional observational study conducted in stable COVID patients who were admitted in the hospital and are referred to psychiatric department for consultation during February, 2021 to April, 2021. After confirmation of COVID-19 through RTPCR, HRCT was done for CORADS scoring and a detail neuropsychological evaluation was conducted in these patients. Results: Among 100 responses, 67 patients were analyzed in detail. On Kruskal Wallis test, there was statistically significant association between CORADS score and age of the individual, history of personality traits and anxiety (p-value 0.001, 0.049 & 0.040 respectively). Around 43% of the sample were diagnosed with organic mood disorders, following with anxiety distress and cognitive disorders were more prevalent. Age -wise distribution of sample shows that anxiety was more seen in the individuals above 30 years of age. Conclusion: With the background of the upcoming mental health pandemic post COVID, it is the duty of the treating doctor to screen a patient diagnosed with COVID for comorbid psychiatric illnesses. This will help the patients to alleviate the symptoms and improve their functional outcome