Risk of severe COVID-19 infection in individuals with severe mental disorders, substance use disorders, and common mental disorders.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the risk of severe COVID-19 in individuals with severe mental disorders, substance use disorders, and common mental disorders in the total adult population of Region Stockholm (N = 1,516,270), and to explore possible underlying mechanisms to the increased risk. METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, we examined the risk of hospitalization and treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU) with COVID-19, and death from COVID-19 for individuals with mental disorders. Associations were step by step adjusted for (1) sociodemographic/economic factors, (2) indicators of virus exposure, (3) somatic conditions, and (4) psychopharmacological treatment. RESULTS: In model 1 (adjusted for age, sex and living in a care home for elderly people), people with a mental disorder had increased risks for inpatient care (HR = 1.5), ICU care (HR = 1.5), and mortality (HR = 1.4) from COVID-19. There was an increased risk of dying from COVID-19 in all subgroups of mental disorders, particularly in people with a severe mental disorder (HR = 1.9). Different covariates had different effects on the association depending on the outcome and on sex, age, or psychiatric diagnosis of the participants. CONCLUSION: People with mental disorders have an increased risk of severe COVID-19, including mortality. The increased risk was partly explained by the examined covariates.

Suicide attempt predicted by academic performance and childhood IQ: a cohort study of 26 000 children.

OBJECTIVE: Academic performance in youth, measured by grade point average (GPA), predicts suicide attempt, but the mechanisms are not known. It has been suggested that general intelligence might underlie the association. METHODS: We followed 26 315 Swedish girls and boys in population-representative cohorts, up to maximum 46 years of age, for the first suicide attempt in hospital records. Associations between GPA at age 16, IQ measured in school at age 13 and suicide attempt were investigated in Cox regressions and mediation analyses. RESULTS: There was a clear graded association between lower GPA and subsequent suicide attempt. With control for potential confounders, those in the lowest GPA quartile had a near five-fold risk (HR 4.9, 95% CI 3.7-6.7) compared to those in the highest quartile. In a mediation analysis, the association between GPA and suicide attempt was robust, while the association between IQ and suicide attempt was fully mediated by GPA. CONCLUSIONS: Poor academic performance in compulsory school, at age 16, was a robust predictor of suicide attempt past young adulthood and seemed to account for the association between lower childhood IQ and suicide attempt.