Abstract
BACKGROUND: Few studies have used real-world data to evaluate the impact of antidepressant use on the risk of developing severe outcomes after SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study using propensity-score matching to examine the relationship between antidepressant use and COVID-19 severity. Inpatient and medication records of all adult COVID-19 patients in Hong Kong during the Omicron-predominated period were obtained. Severe clinical outcomes including intensive care unit admission and inpatient death after the first positive results of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction as well as a composite outcome of both were studied. Cox proportional hazard models were applied to estimate the crude and adjusted hazard ratios (HR). FINDINGS: Of 60,903 hospitalised COVID-19 patients admitted, 40,459 were included for matching, among which 3821 (9.4%) were prescribed antidepressants. The rates of intensive care unit admission, inpatient death, and the composite event were 3.9%, 25.5%, and 28.3% respectively in the unexposed group, 1.3%, 20.0%, and 21.1% respectively in the exposed group, with adjusted HR equal to 0.332 (95% CI, 0.245-0.449), 0.868 (95% CI, 0.800-0.942), and 0.786 (95% CI, 0.727-0.850) respectively. The result was generally consistent when stratified by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and non-SSRIs. Antidepressants with functional inhibition of acid sphingomyelinase activity, specifically fluoxetine, were also negatively associated with the outcomes. The effect of antidepressants was more apparent in female and fully vaccinated COVID-19 patients. INTERPRETATION: Antidepressant use was associated with a lower risk of severe COVID-19. The findings support the continuation of antidepressants in patients with COVID-19, and provide evidence for the treatment potential of antidepressants for severe COVID-19. FUNDING: This research was supported by Health and Medical Research Fund [grant numbers COVID190105, COVID19F03, INF-CUHK-1], Collaborative Research Fund of University Grants Committee [grant numbers C4139-20G], National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [71974165], and Group Research Scheme from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.