b'COVID-19 Infection Increased Suicide Attempts In Younger VeteransWith SchizophreniaAuthors of a new study strongly urged that patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, especially those who have a history of suicide attempt and are younger than 59 or obese, should be monitored closely during the COVID-19 pandemic. They warned of the possibility of symptom exacerbation in those patients when they have severe COVID-19, because of infection-related impaired neurotransmission.By Brenda L. MooneyHOUSTONSchizophrenia patients have been es- of veterans with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or pecially hard hit during the COVID-19 pandemic,schizoaffectivedisorderthatreceivedtreatment according to a recent study. Not only do they haveat any VAMC between Jan. 1, 2020, and Jan.31, a higher risk of contracting infection caused by the2021. Included in the analyses were 101,032 vet-novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavi- erans with a mean age of 56.7, and 90.8% of them rus 2partly because they are less likely to be vac- were males.cinatedbut also have a twofold increased risk ofDuring that time period, 2,703 (2.7%) of the patients dying from COVID-19 compared to patients withoutattempted suicide, and 719 (0.7%) patients were pos-mental illness. itiveforCOVID-19.Researchersdeterminedthat The report in Complex Psychiatry pointed out that,the association between history of suicide attempt even without a global pandemic, premature mortal- and COVID-19 positivity was affected by age and ity is a well-known feature of schizophrenia, espe- BMI, so that the relationship was only significant in cially from suicide and comorbid somatic illnesses,patients younger than 59 years and in obese (BMI most notably cardiovascular disease. Schizophrenia30) patients (adjusted OR 3.42, 95% CI 2.02-5.79 also is much more prevalent in the veteran popula- and OR 2.85, 95% CI 1.65-4.94, respectively).tion than nonveterans in the United States, explainedHigher rates of COVID-19 in young or obese sui-researchers from the Michael E. DeBakey VAMCcide attempters with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or and colleagues. 1 schizoaffective disorder might be due to the elevated Paststudieshaveestimatedtheprevalenceofrisk for the infection in this subgroup of patients, schizophrenia from 1.4% in a general veteran sam- the authors concluded.ple to 11.2% in older adult veterans; that is comparedResearchersaddedthat,totheirknowledge,this to a range between 0.25% and 0.64% in the overallwas the first study to identify a link between history U.S. population, according to the article.of suicide attempt and COVID-19 in veterans with There is, therefore, a need to identify vulnerabilityschizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.factors for COVID-19 in patients with schizophreniaTheassociationofhistoryofsuicideattempt which can guide the allocation of preventative andwith COVID-19 in veterans with schizophrenia or therapeuticresourcesandreducemortalityinthisschizoaffective disorder may be explained by psy-patient population, the authors wrote. chological factors which both predispose patients To achieve that, the study team conducted a cross- to suicide attempts and make them more vulner-sectionalanalysesofelectronichealthrecordsabletoCOVID-19infection,theyexplained. Continued on Page 80 u71'