Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Sep-Oct;61(5):411-427.
doi: 10.1016/j.psym.2020.05.006. Epub 2020 May 18.

Psychopharmacology of COVID-19

Melanie Bilbul  1 , Patricia Paparone  1 , Anna M Kim  1 , Shruti Mutalik  1 , Carrie L Ernst  2
Affiliations
Review

Psychopharmacology of COVID-19

Melanie Bilbul et al. Psychosomatics. 2020 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

Background: With the rapid, global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, hospitals have become inundated with patients suffering from coronavirus disease 2019. Consultation-liaison psychiatrists are actively involved in managing these patients and should familiarize themselves with how the virus and its proposed treatments can affect psychotropic management. The only Food and Drug Administration-approved drug to treat COVID-19 is remdesivir, and other off-label medications used include chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, tocilizumab, lopinavir/ritonavir, favipiravir, convalescent plasma therapy, azithromycin, vitamin C, corticosteroids, interferon, and colchicine.

Objective: To provide an overview of the major safety considerations relevant to clinicians who prescribe psychotropics to patients with COVID-19, both related to the illness and its proposed treatments.

Methods: In this targeted review, we performed structured literature searches in PubMed to identify articles describing the impacts of COVID-19 on different organ systems, the neuropsychiatric adverse effects of treatments, and any potential drug interactions with psychotropics. The articles most relevant to this one were included.

Results: COVID-19 impacts multiple organ systems, including gastrointestinal, renal, cardiovascular, pulmonary, immunological, and hematological systems. This may lead to pharmacokinetic changes that impact psychotropic medications and increase sensitivity to psychotropic-related adverse effects. In addition, several proposed treatments for COVID-19 have neuropsychiatric effects and potential interactions with commonly used psychotropics.

Conclusions: Clinicians should be aware of the need to adjust existing psychotropics or avoid using certain medications in some patients with COVID-19. They should also be familiar with neuropsychiatric effects of medications being used to treat this disease. Further research is needed to identify strategies to manage psychiatric issues in this population.

Keywords: COVID-19; psychopharmacology; psychotropic; side effects.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers - Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of Remdesivir (GS-5734TM) [Internet]. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 2020. https://www.fda.gov/media/137566/download Available from:
    1. Kalil A.C. Treating COVID-19—off-label drug use, compassionate use, and randomized clinical trials during pandemics. JAMA. 2020 doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.4742. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wang T., Du Z., Zhu F. Comorbidities and multi-organ injuries in the treatment of COVID-19. Lancet. 2020;395:e52. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huang C., Wang Y., Li X. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395:497–506. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Terpos E., Ntanasis-Stathopoulos I., Elalamy I. Hematological findings and complications of COVID-19. Am J Hematol. 2020;95:834–847. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances