Anhedonia in the structure of post-COVID syndrome in psychiatric inpatients: the probable role of obesity, systemic inflammation, vascular disregulation and general therapeutic comorbidity

Abstract

COVID-19 caused not only acute but also delayed neuropsychiatric disorders. A highly probable manifestation of the latter may be physical anhedonia, since this transnosological psychopathological phenomenon is associated with a violation of metabolic and neuroinflammatory processes. The goal. To identify the prevalence of physical anhedonia in the clinic of post-COVID syndrome and to assess the association of this transnosological psychopathological symptom with concomitant somatic burden, the severity of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and the time elapsed since the disease. Materials and Methods. The prevalence of acute and delayed neuropsychiatric symptoms was assessed in 48 psychiatric inpatients with severe mental disorders depending on the history of COVID-19. Quantitative and qualitative assessment was carried out by self-reporting on the number of simultaneously present groups of chronic diseases, and the severity of obesity was objectively assessed - by body mass index, dysregulation of vascular tone-by blood pressure variability, systemic inflammation - by sed rate and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR). Physical anhedonia was detected using the Russian-language version of the Revised physical anhedonia scale (RPAS). Results. The association between the severity of COVID-19 and the severity of anhedonia, as a probable component of post-COVID syndrome, was confirmed. The total general therapeutic burden was the most important predictor of acute and delayed neuropsychiatric symptoms against the background of COVID-19. The probable role of metabolic syndrome, systemic inflammation and vascular tone was shown in the development of late disorders after coronavirus infection. Conclusion. The role of general therapeutic burden (including obesity, vascular dysregulation and systemic inflammation) in the development of anhedonia in patients with mental disorders who have had COVID-19 has been demonstrated.