The objective of this study was to investigate the predictors for new-onset mental disorders among patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 illness during hospitalization. A retrospective cohort study was performed in patients with confirmed COVID-19 admitted to a nationally designated hospital between 1 February and 30 June 2020. Demographic, clinical, psychological assessments, and psychiatric outcomes were obtained from electronic medical record review. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors of new-onset mental disorders. Among 185 patients, 130 had no history of mental disorders or cognitive impairment at the time of admission. Of 130 patients, 29 (22.3%) were newly diagnosed with mental disorders during hospitalization. The following factors were significantly associated with an increased risk of a psychiatric diagnosis: Charlson comorbidity index core ≥1 (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 5.115, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.737-15.058), length of stay (aOR per 1-day increase = 1.067, 95% CI: 1.035-1.100), and self-reported depressive symptoms at the time of admission (aOR = 5.357, 95% CI: 1.745-16.444). The predictive accuracy of combining these risk factors was relatively high (area under curve = 0.851, 95% CI: 0.778-0.923). These potential risk factors could help to predict the new-onset mental disorder among hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
Keywords: COVID-19; Republic of Korea; cohort study; mental disorder; prognosis.