Psychiatric adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination: a population-based cohort study in Seoul, South Korea, 2024, Kim et al

Abstract

Evidence has suggested an increased risk of psychiatric manifestations following viral infections including coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). However, psychiatric adverse events (AEs) after COVID-19 vaccination, which were documented in case reports and case series, remain unclear. This study is aimed to investigate the psychiatric AEs after COVID-19 vaccination from a large population-based cohort in Seoul, South Korea.

We recruited 50% of the Seoul-resident population randomly selected from the Korean National Health Insurance Service (KNHIS) claims database on 1, January, 2021. The included participants (n = 2,027,353) from the Korean National Health Insurance Service claims database were divided into two groups according to COVID-19 vaccination. The cumulative incidences per 10,000 of psychiatric AEs were assessed on one week, two weeks, one month, and three months after COVID-19 vaccination. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% Confidence interval (CIs) of psychiatric AEs were measured for the vaccinated population.

The cumulative incidence of depression, anxiety, dissociative, stress-related, and somatoform disorders, sleep disorders, and sexual disorders at three months following COVID-19 vaccination were higher in the vaccination group than no vaccination group. However, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders showed lower cumulative incidence in the vaccination group than in the non-vaccinated group. Depression (HR [95% CI] = 1.683 [1.520–1.863]), anxiety, dissociative, stress-related, and somatoform disorders (HR [95% CI] = 1.439 [1.322–1.568]), and sleep disorders (HR [95% CI] = 1.934 [1.738–2.152]) showed increased risks after COVID-19 vaccination, whereas the risks of schizophrenia (HR [95% CI] = 0.231 [0.164–0.326]) and bipolar disorder (HR [95% CI] = 0.672 [0.470–0.962]).

COVID-19 vaccination increased the risks of depression, anxiety, dissociative, stress-related, and somatoform disorders, and sleep disorders while reducing the risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Therefore, special cautions are necessary for administering additional COVID-19 vaccinations to populations vulnerable to psychiatric AEs.

Open access: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-024-02627-0

 

To be fair, with regards to ME research, it seems journal quality is totally independent of research quality unfortunately.

 

Even setting aside how much bullshit "somatoform disorders" is, does psychiatric even mean anything anymore? Other than that most MDs would be glad to hand if off to them? WTF does schizophrenia even have to do in the same sentence as stress disorders, which barely means anything, is just a fully generic whatever bag.

There is definitely a place for something like the idea of psychiatry, but it's not just that it has become a dumping ground for all sorts of unrelated things, it's that they seem to have chosen to become it. Why isn't MS psychiatric? Or Parkinson's? But sleep problems are? Doesn't make any sense, this is just all the stuff that's left over after everyone else has decided to try something about it.

It seems to be anything that changes behavior, but most illnesses do, your basic fever is basically a psychiatric disorder going by this. Many liver diseases do, as some vitamin deficiencies, and yet they have nothing to do with the brain itself. It's so chaotic and nonsensical.

Somehow psychiatry has basically held us off captive for decades, but the odds that anything useful would come out of them is basically laughable. Best they can do is liaise with themselves. Or whatever.