Mental health disorders, autism and Covid-19 severity: Integrating quantitative data with participant experiences

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has mobilized a concerted research effort to identify biological, socio-demographic, and behavioral factors which may increase the risk of infection and severity of the disease. Whilst much research has explored physical health factors which may affect these risks, the effects of mental health and attitudes have been less fully investigated. Objective: The current study is one of the first to investigate possible associations between optimism bias, self-reported mental health, neurodiversity, and Covid-19 severity. A second aim of the present study was to explore any observed relationships by exploring the subjective experiences of being ill with Covid-19 of individuals with these disorders. Methods: A convenience sample of 400 adults (210 Males; aged 18-64; M = 33.3; SD = 11.8 years) who had tested positive for Covid-19 completed a survey that asked them whether they had any mental health or developmental disorders. They were also asked questions about how likely they had thought it was they would become ill (optimism bias) and a free-response item about their experience of having Covid-19. Sentiment analysis coded these responses as negative, neutral, or positive. Results: Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that having an eating disorder (χ2 1 = 5.86; p < .001) and having a higher optimism bias (χ2 1 = 4.65, p < .001) were associated with increased odds of being hospitalized with Covid-19 (a proxy for Covid severity). Presence of autism was associated with a decreased likelihood of having a negative sentiment towards being ill (χ2 1 = -632.46; p < .001). Conclusions: Supplemented by future research with a larger sample size and more targeted qualitative analysis, these findings may inform public health messaging and care provision for individuals with these disorders in pandemic or health contexts.