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Principal Investigator: NELSON B. FREIMER
Organization: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
Fiscal Year: 2023
Award: $3,072,053
Funding agency: National Institute of Mental Health
Abstract
Many studies have shown the disproportionately high rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection and its medical
complications, including death, experienced by individuals with pre-pandemic severe mental illness (SMI). By
contrast, very few studies have thus far attempted to rigorously examine the impact of the pandemic, and
infection specifically, on brain and behavioral function in this highly vulnerable group. The lack of such studies is
a matter of growing public health concern, given evidence that, in the population overall, the pandemic has been
associated with potentially long-lasting deteriorations in measures of mental health and cognitive performance.
This proposal is to fill major gaps in our knowledgebase, regarding the impact of the COVID pandemic on
individuals living with SMI – defined here to include schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and severe major
depressive disorders. We will do so through new studies that leverage existing, longstanding projects that have
focused on elucidating causes and trajectories of SMI, in the Paisa population of Colombia. To conduct these
studies, we will re-engage and reassess the Paisa-project participants whom we originally investigated pre-
pandemic. Specifically, we will measure outcomes of the pandemic and potential predictors of those outcomes,
in individuals with pre-existing SMI and controls (Aim 1). Among the outcome and predictor measures that we
will obtain are: neurocognitive batteries, symptom scales, assessments of SMI-related dimensional traits (such
as anhedonia) and of pandemic experiences, questionnaires on Social Determinants of Health, SARS-CoV-2
serology, and whole exome and whole genome genotypes. We will then (Aim 2) conduct analyses to identify the
relationships between specific outcomes and predictors evaluated in Aim 1. Finally (Aim 3), we will use our EHR-
linked biobank to evaluate the relationships in a larger, independent case/control sample, identify modifiers of
these relationships, and develop models to predict pandemic-related suicide attempts and changes in healthcare
utilization in individuals with SMI.
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threat coronavirus><pathophysiology><persistent mental illness><post-COVID><post-COVID-19><post-coronavirus disease 2019><pre-pandemic><predictive outcomes><predictors of outcomes><psychiatric illness><psychiatric symptom><psychological disorder><psychotic illness><rate of infection><recruit><schizophrenic><serious mental disorder><serious mental illness><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global health crisis><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global pandemic><severe mental disorder><severe mental illness><social health determinants><social role><study population><suicidal attempt><trait><virtual><vulnerable group><vulnerable individual><vulnerable people><whole genome>