Psychiatric Findings in Suspected and Confirmed Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Patients Quarantined in Hospital: A Retrospective Chart Analysis

Kim, Hyun-Chung; Yoo, So-Young; Lee, Bun-Hee; Lee, So Hee; Shin, Hyoung-Shik

We found that about 70% of the confirmed MERS patients exhibited psychiatric symptoms and about 40% received psychiatric diagnoses and were prescribed medication during hospital quarantine, whereas none of the suspected MERS patients exhibited psychiatric symptoms. Furthermore, we found that the level of daily distress over the past month and posttraumatic stress symptoms may be risk factors for depression .100 *patients with depression (PHQ-9 ≥5) (N=11) included 8 subjects (29.6%) with mild depression (PHQ-9, 5-9), 2 (7.4%) with moderate depression (PHQ-9, 10-14), and 1 (3.7%) with severe depression (PHQ-9, 20-27). PHQ-9: Patient Health Questionnaire-9, IES-R: the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, PTD-PTNB-PTSS: Peri-traumatic Dissociation-Post-traumatic Negative Beliefs-Post-traumatic Social Support, KNHANES: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey A previous study found that seven of ten SARS patients with psychiatric complications were deemed to have mild psychiatric problems such as anger, anxiety, suicidal ideas, and depressive reaction, whereas the remaining three patients had more severe psychiatric disorders with hallucinatory and manic features. Similarly, we found that 14 of 24 MERS patients had mild psychiatric symptoms such as insomnia, depressed mood, and tension and that three had severe psychiatric disorders with hallucinations and psychotic features.