PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Kerstin Klaser AU - Ellen J Thompson AU - Long H Nguyen AU - Carole H Sudre AU - Michela Antonelli AU - Benjamin Murray AU - Liane S Canas AU - Erika Molteni AU - Mark S Graham AU - Eric Kerfoot AU - Liyuan Chen AU - Jie Deng AU - Anna May AU - Christina Hu AU - Andy Guest AU - Somesh Selvachandran AU - David A Drew AU - Marc Modat AU - Andrew T Chan AU - Jonathan Wolf AU - Tim D Spector AU - Alexander Hammers AU - Emma L Duncan AU - Sebastien Ourselin AU - Claire J Steves TI - Anxiety and depression symptoms after COVID-19 infection: results from the COVID Symptom Study app AID - 10.1136/jnnp-2021-327565 DP - 2021 Sep 28 TA - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry PG - jnnp-2021-327565 4099 - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2021/09/27/jnnp-2021-327565.short 4100 - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2021/09/27/jnnp-2021-327565.full AB - Background Mental health issues have been reported after SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, comparison to prevalence in uninfected individuals and contribution from common risk factors (eg, obesity and comorbidities) have not been examined. We identified how COVID-19 relates to mental health in the large community-based COVID Symptom Study.Methods We assessed anxiety and depression symptoms using two validated questionnaires in 413148 individuals between February and April 2021; 26998 had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. We adjusted for physical and mental prepandemic comorbidities, body mass index (BMI), age and sex.Findings Overall, 26.4% of participants met screening criteria for general anxiety and depression. Anxiety and depression were slightly more prevalent in previously SARS-CoV-2-positive (30.4%) vs SARS-CoV-2-negative (26.1%) individuals. This association was small compared with the effect of an unhealthy BMI and the presence of other comorbidities, and not evident in younger participants (≤40 years). Findings were robust to multiple sensitivity analyses. Association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and anxiety and depression was stronger in individuals with recent (<30 days) versus more distant (>120 days) infection, suggesting a short-term effect.Interpretation A small association was identified between SARS-CoV-2 infection and anxiety and depression symptoms. The proportion meeting criteria for self-reported anxiety and depression disorders is only slightly higher than prepandemic.