The Clinical Observation of Inflammation Theory for Depression: The Initiative of the Formosa Long COVID Multicenter Study (FOCuS)

Shu-Tsen Liu; Sheng-Che Lin; Jane Pei-Chen Chang; Kai-Jie Yang; Che-Sheng Chu; Chia-Chun Yang; Chih-Sung Liang; Ching-Fang Sun; Shao-Cheng Wang; Senthil Kumaran Satyanarayanan; Kuan-Pin Su

doi:10.9758/cpn.2023.21.1.10

The Clinical Observation of Inflammation Theory for Depression: The Initiative of the Formosa Long COVID Multicenter Study (FOCuS)

Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2023 Feb 28;21(1):10-18. doi: 10.9758/cpn.2023.21.1.10.

Authors

Shu-Tsen Liu¹, Sheng-Che Lin², Jane Pei-Chen Chang^{3

4

5}, Kai-Jie Yang^{3

5}, Che-Sheng Chu⁶, Chia-Chun Yang⁷, Chih-Sung Liang⁸, Ching-Fang Sun⁹, Shao-Cheng Wang^{10

11}, Senthil Kumaran Satyanarayanan³, Kuan-Pin Su^{2

3

5}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry & Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, China Medical University Children's Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
² An-Nan Hospital, China Medical University, Tainan, Taiwan.
³ Mind-Body Interface Laboratory (MBI-Lab), China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁴ Division of Child Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁵ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Taoyuan Psychiatric Center, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, Beitou Branch, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Virginia Tech Carilion Clinic School of Medicine, Roanoke, VA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry, Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
¹¹ Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Abstract

There is growing evidence that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is associated with increased risks of psychiatric sequelae. Depression, anxiety, cognitive impairments, sleep disturbance, and fatigue during and after the acute phase of COVID-19 are prevalent, long-lasting, and exerting negative consequences on well-being and imposing a huge burden on healthcare systems and society. This current review presented timely updates of clinical research findings, particularly focusing on the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying the neuropsychiatric sequelae, and identified potential key targets for developing effective treatment strategies for long COVID. In addition, we introduced the Formosa Long COVID Multicenter Study (FOCuS), which aims to apply the inflammation theory to the pathogenesis and the psychosocial and nutrition treatments of post-COVID depression and anxiety.

Keywords: COVID-19; Depression; Inflammation; Long COVID; Neuropsychiatric sequelae; Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.

Publication types

Review