Patients are at an estimated 44 per cent greater risk of neurological and mental health diagnoses after COVID-19 than after flu, and a 16 per cent greater risk than with other respiratory tract infections, the largest study of its kind by the University of Oxford revealed on Wednesday. Overall, the estimated incidence of being diagnosed with a neurological or mental health disorder following COVID-19 infection was 34 per cent, and for 13 per cent of these people, it was their first recorded neurological or psychiatric diagnosis. The most common diagnoses after COVID-19 were anxiety disorders (occurring in 17 per cent of patients), mood disorders (14 per cent), substance misuse disorders (7 per cent), and insomnia (5 per cent). The incidence of neurological outcomes was lower, including 0.6 per cent for brain haemorrhage, 2.1 per cent for ischaemic stroke, and 0.7 per cent for dementia.