ANALYSIS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND EMOTIONAL STATE OF PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION AFTER SUFFERING CORONAVIRUS INFECTION (COVID-19)
Authors: Khvostova Maria A. , Esina Elena Y. , Kotova Yulia A. , Zuikova Anna A. 
Published: October 2023

Highlights

The study of severity of psychological and emotional disorders in hypertensive patients with comorbidity who suffered COVID-19, as well as their association with clinical and laboratory indicators reflecting the course of diseases, is of high interest in the current epidemiological situation. Patients with hypertension who suffered COVID-19 presented with mild dementia and geriatric depression. Significant associations between systolic blood pressure and lung damage, between diastolic blood pressure and the average score on the geriatric depression scale, and lung damage were revealed.

 

Abstract

Background. Modern studies have highlighted a more severe course of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in elderly patients with hypertension, diabetes mellitus and cerebrovascular disease. The basis of the pathogenesis of COVID-19 is cerebrovascular ischemia, which arose as a result of coagulopathy with an increased risk of thrombotic complications, the clinical reflection of which is the development of mental and emotional disorders as a part of the post-covid syndrome.

Aim. To analyze the severity of psychological and emotional disorders in hypertensive patients with comorbidity who suffered COVID-19.

Methods. The study included 40 patients with arterial hypertension (AH) and comorbid pathology, aged 60 to 90 years. Taking into account the lung damage due to COVID-19, the patients were divided into 2 groups: the group 1 included 17 AH patients with lung damage of grade 1–2 according to computed tomography, and the group 2 included 13 AH patients with grade 3 lung damage. The control group consisted of 10 AH patients who did not suffer COVID-19. The Statistica 6.0 program was used for statistical processing of the data.

Results. According to our data, patients in the group 2 suffered a more severe clinical course of COVID-19, the number of AH patients taking angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors) in the group 2 was higher (85%) compared with the group 1 (47%), (p = 0.009). In the post-covid period, AH patients in the group 2 who suffered COVID-19 and had grade 3 lung damage presented with mild dementia and geriatric depression. AH patients in the group 1 with grade 1-2 lung damage presented with mild cognitive impairment (cognitive impairment no dementia) in the post-covid period. The analysis revealed a significant correlation between the score on the geriatric depression scale and the duration of fever and oxygen support. Moreover, the results of the analysis indicate a moderately negative correlation between the score on the geriatric depression scale and the minimum oxygen saturation, hemoglobin and leukocyte levels, a moderately negative correlation between MMSE scores and myalgia, and a moderate negative relationship between the scores on the geriatric depression scale and MMSE scale.

Conclusion. The results obtained confirm the data on the development of mental health disorders in short and long-term periods after COVID-19.