Initiation of antidepressant medicines in Swedish patients diagnosed with COVID-19: a registry-based cohort study.

Authors

Roberto Mužić, Fredrik Nyberg, Björn Wettermark, Mohammadhossein Hajiebrahimi

Published in

Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology. Jul 17, 2026. Epub Jul 17, 2026.

Abstract

While antidepressant therapy is a common treatment for post-COVID mental health symptoms, little is known about initiations of antidepressants in patients after COVID-19 and how sociodemographic factors modify this risk. This study investigated whether adults infected by COVID-19 were more likely to initiate antidepressant therapy compared with non-infected individuals, and examined the influence of socioeconomic factors on initiation patterns.
We conducted a nationwide registry-based cohort study using data from the SCIFI-PEARL project, including all adults (≥ 18 years of age) in Sweden from 1 March 2020 to 31 March 2022. Exposed individuals had a COVID-19 infection, and unexposed individuals were matched 1:1 by sex and birth year. Stratified Cox regression models were used to estimate the risk of antidepressant (ATC: N06A) initiation, adjusting for socioeconomic status, and Charlson Comorbidity Index.
The cohort included 2,666,510 individuals (1,333,255 exposed and unexposed). Exposed individuals had a 16% higher risk of initiating antidepressants compared with unexposed individuals after full adjustment (HR: 1.16, 95% CI:1.15-1.17). The risk reduced by roughly 43% when we adjusted for post-index healthcare contacts as potential mediator. Higher risks were observed for unmarried (HR: 1.14, 95% CI:1.13-1.16), or unemployed/retired (HR 1.14, 95% CI: 1.13-1.16) individuals. Conversely, higher educational level and being born outside Sweden were associated with lower risk of initiation of antidepressant, (HR:0.70, 95% CI:0.68-0.71) and (HR:0.92, 95% CI: 0.91-0.94), respectively.
COVID-19 exposure was associated with an increased risk of initiating antidepressant therapy, particularly among socioeconomically vulnerable groups. Differences by education and immigrant status suggest disparities in access to healthcare.

PMID:
42467082
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 17 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.