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Do psychotropic drugs used during COVID-19 therapy have an effect on the treatment process?
  1. Nadir Yalçın1,
  2. Sertaç Ak2,
  3. Kutay Demirkan1
  1. 1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
  2. 2 Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
  1. Correspondence to Nadir Yalçın, Ankara, Turkey; nadir.yalcin{at}hotmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/ejhpharm-2020-002419

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    People with mental disorders are more vulnerable to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 than the general population due to the risk of infection (including pneumonia), barriers to timely access to healthcare facilities due to their isolation in the psychiatric ward, and the fear, anxiety and depression accompanying the pandemic process.1 Beyond that, though the psychological impact of COVID-19 remains unclear, infected patients may experience anxiety, depression, guilt, stigma and anger. The emotional problems thus may reduce immunity and compromise recovery; it may therefore be necessary to start a new drug treatment for COVID-19 patients who have not had previous mental disorders. In addition, the long-term side effects of psychotropic drugs (metabolic syndrome, extrapyramidal symptoms, electrolyte imbalance, etc), physical health problems (obesity, gynecomastia, sexual dysfunction, etc), substance use disorders (nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, etc), and medication non-adherence are other important problems in the fight against …

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    Footnotes

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.