People with severe mental disorders have a significantly increased risk of dying from COVID-19. This has been shown in a new study from Umea University and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Among the elderly, the proportion of deaths due to COVID-19 was almost fourfold for those with severe mental disorders compared to non-mentally ill people in the same age.
In the current study, the researchers studied data covering the entire Swedish population over the age of 20 during the period from 11 March to 15 June 2020. Among citizens with severe mental disorder, 130 people died from COVID-19 during this period, which corresponded to 0.1 per cent of the group.
