
Psychiatric Fallout From Lyme Neuroborreliosis May Be Less Grave Than Thought
A recent study presents new findings on the connection between psychiatric disorders and Lyme.
NEWS BRIEF
A population-based matched cohort study of 2897 patients in Denmark found Lyme neuroborreliosis is not linked to an increased risk of psychiatric disorders or hospitalizations.1 The
According to Tetens, “The most important message from our study is that we did not demonstrate any increased risk of psychiatric disease.”
The study included all Danish patients in whom the presence of Lyme neuroborreliosis was detected between 1995 and 2015 with an intrathecal antibody index test for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex. They were matched by age and sex against a comparison cohort of Danish individuals without the disease.
The authors told Psychiatric Times, “We did demonstrate an increase in the redemption of anxiolytics, hypnotics and sedatives, and antidepressants among [patients with] Lyme neuroborreliosis within the first year after diagnosis. Possibly pain management might explain some of the increased receipt of this psychiatric medication.”
When asked about the ongoing debate around the role of Lyme borreliosis in the etiology or exacerbation of existing mental disorders,2 the authors said, “Our study is reassuring for the affected patients and serves as a counterweight to studies suggesting that psychiatric disease is caused by Lyme neuroborreliosis.”
A strength of the study was the robust size, but a limitation was the comparison of patient and comparison cohorts: “[A] limitation was lack of access to scores of the psychiatric diseases. However, this was partly compensated by analysis of psychiatric hospital contacts and redemption of prescribed psychiatric medicine.”
Despite these findings, there seems to be ample evidence to
Although their findings were promising, Tetens and colleagues1 cautioned against sweeping generalizations about these study results: “It is of vital importance to differentiate the results of this study from the experience of the individual patient. Nonetheless, based on our study it is reasonable to suggest that Lyme neuroborreliosis is not a major cause of psychiatric disease.”
References
1. Tetens MM, Haahr R, Dessau RB, et al.
2. Stanek G, Wormser GP, Gray J, Strle F. Lyme borreliosis. Lancet. 2012;379(9814):461-473.
3. Bransfield RC. List of 700 Articles Citing Chronic Infection Associated with Tick-Borne Diseases Compiled by Dr. Robert Bransfield. International Lyme and Associated Disease Society. 2015. Accessed October 12, 2020.
4. Bransfield RC.
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