Clinical and biochemical characteristics of schizophrenia patients with and without COVID-19: A retrospective study

Abstract

Abstract Background Previous studies have shown that patients with mental diseases such as schizophrenia are at high risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the clinical characteristics of patients with schizophrenia and COVID-19 remain unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in clinical biochemical values between schizophrenia patients with and without COVID-19. Methods We undertook an exploratory, retrospective review of patient data from Dec. 6, 2022, to Jan. 31, 2023. A total of 1696 inpatients with psychosis (921 schizophrenia patients and 775 diagnosed with other mental diseases) during this period were identified. Finally, 60 schizophrenia patients were enrolled in our study, and 20 of them were infected with syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Results The serum biochemical levels, blood cell counts and single-cell mitochondrial mass (SCMM) of the T lymphocytes of all schizophrenia patients were analyzed. Schizophrenia patients with COVID-19 (SCZ-C) showed higher serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), creatinine (Cr), uric acid (UA), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), myoglobin (Myo), and C-reactive protein (CRP) and platelet counts and a significant decrease in lymphocyte, monocyte, eosinophil, and basophil cell counts. In addition, positive correlations were found between the T-cell subpopulation counts and positive symptom scores on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Conclusion Our study findings showed that schizophrenia patients with COVID-19 have a phenotype of mitochondrial damage in peripheral blood T lymphocytes and may have liver, heart and kidney damage compared with SARS-CoV-2-negative schizophrenia patients.