Long Covid & Antidepressants

Author(s)

Rafael Rivas-Vázquez, First Choice Neurology
Enrique J. Carrazana, Neurelis Inc.
Mark A. Blais, Massachusetts General Hospital–Harvard Medical School
Gustavo J. Rey, University of Miami
Emma Rivas-Vázquez, Villanova University
Alan Quintana, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Med Discoveries

ISSN

2993-1142

Publication Date

3-15-2023

Abstract

Three years into this historic pandemic, the scientific and healthcare communities continue to learn a great deal regarding COVID-19, the disease that is produced by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The most urgent and immediate focus has been on vaccine development for disease prevention/mitigation and on identification of effective therapeutic interventions for acute phase of illness. However, attention is increasingly being placed on formulating treatment strategies for individuals who are post-COVID-19 and experiencing a syndrome of persistent cognitive, somatic and behavioral symptoms that is being referred to as long COVID. In addition to identifying novel compounds that may improve outcome in either acute or residual COVID-19, an alternate and parallel strategy is to repurpose or reposition drugs which have been approved for other conditions and subsequently assess their safety and efficacy when applied to COVID-19. In this light, antidepressant medications, particularly serotonin reuptake inhibitors, have garnered attention amidst evidence supporting their anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties. Results from several preliminary studies suggest that early administration of antidepressants may prevent clinical deterioration and even death in patients with acute COVID-19. In this article, we present purported anti-inflammatory mechanisms of the antidepressants, review results from studies that have appeared in the literature to date regarding antidepressants and acute COVID-19, and discuss the possible utility of antidepressants as a potential therapeutic resource for long COVID.

DOI

10.52768/2993-1142/1023

Volume

2

Issue

3

Comments

© 2023 Rivas-Vázquez R.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

NSUWorks Citation

Rivas-Vázquez, R., Carrazana, E. J., Blais, M. A., Rey, G. J., Rivas-Vázquez, E., Quintana, A. (2023). Long Covid & Antidepressants. Med Discoveries, 2(3).
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/2039