Increased in-hospital mortality from COVID-19 in patients with schizophrenia

There is limited information describing the presenting characteristics and outcomes of patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) requiring hospitalization for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

We aimed to compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 SCZ patients with those of non-SCZ patients.

This was a case-control study of COVID-19 patients admitted to 4 AP-HM/AMU acute care hospitals in Marseille, southern France. COVID-19 infection was confirmed by a positive result on polymerase chain reaction testing of a nasopharyngeal sample and/or on chest computed scan among patients requiring hospital admission. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. The secondary outcome was intensive care unit (ICU) admission.

A total of 1092 patients were included. The overall in-hospital mortality rate was 9.0%. The SCZ patients had an increased mortality compared to the non-SCZ patients (26.7% vs. 8.7%, P=0.039), which was confirmed by the multivariable analysis after adjustment for age, sex, smoking status, obesity and comorbidity (adjusted odds ratio 4.36 [95% CI: 1.09-17.44]; P=0.038). In contrast, the SCZ patients were not more frequently admitted to the ICU than the non-SCZ patients. Importantly, the SCZ patients were mostly institutionalized (63.6%, 100% of those who died), and they were more likely to have cancers and respiratory comorbidities.

This study suggests that SCZ is not overrepresented among COVID-19 hospitalized patients, but SCZ is associated with excess COVID-19 mortality, confirming the existence of health disparities described in other somatic diseases.