Frailty as a Risk Factor for Depression after COVID-19 Hospital Admission

Abstract

Background: This work aims to establish the relationship between depression and epidemiological or imaging variables, frailty, and cognitive status in patients who suffered hospital admission for COVID-19. Methods: A longitudinal observational study investigated 72 patients admitted for COVID-19 to a hospital in Spain. Patients were evaluated at discharge and six months later. Clinical, analytical, and imaging variables were collected. A neurocognitive, nutritional, and frailty (FRAIL scale) assessment of the included patients was carried out. The risk of depression was considered for a result above 5 points on the PHQ-9 scale. Results: The variables that were significantly related to the risk of depression 6 months after admission for COVID-19 were frailty (p = 0.006 for pre-frail and p = 0.001 for frail), small-vessel vascular disease in imaging tests (p = 0.033), vitamin D level (p = 0.006), and taking antidepressants (p = 0.011). Factors that were negatively associated with the presence of depression 6 months after discharge were a higher score on the CAMCOG cognitive scale (p = 0.041) and older age (p = 0.006). Conclusions: Frailty worsened the score on the PHQ-9 depression scale in patients who required hospital admission for SARS-CoV-2 infection. It is important to implement prevention measures both for frailty and depression in these patients.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• depression
• frailty
• mental health
• SARS-CoV-2
• pandemic