Six-month follow-up of multidomain cognitive impairment in non-hospitalized individuals with post-COVID-19 syndrome.

Publication date: Jul 24, 2024

Some people infected with SARS-CoV-2 report persisting symptoms following acute infection. If these persist for over three months, they are classified as post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS). Although PCS is frequently reported, detailed longitudinal neuropsychological characterization remains scarce. We aimed to describe the trajectory of cognitive and neuropsychiatric PCS symptoms. 42 individuals with persisting cognitive deficits after asymptomatic to mild/moderate acute COVID-19 at study inclusion received neuropsychological assessment at baseline (BL) and follow-up (FU; six months after BL). Assessments included comprehensive testing of five neurocognitive domains, two cognitive screening tests, and questionnaires on depression, anxiety, sleep, fatigue, and health-related quality of life. Results showed high rates of subjective cognitive complaints at BL and FU (95. 2% versus 88. 1%) without significant change over time. However, objectively measured neurocognitive disorder (NCD) decreased (61. 9% versus 42. 9%). All cognitive domains were affected, yet most deficits were found in learning and memory, followed by executive functions, complex attention, language, and perceptual motor functions. In individuals with NCD, the first three domains mentioned improved significantly over time, while the last two domains remained unchanged. Cognitive screening tests did not prove valuable in detecting impairment. Neuropsychiatric symptoms remained constant except for quality of life, which improved. This study emphasizes the importance of comprehensive neuropsychological assessment in longitudinal research and provides valuable insights into the trajectory of long-term neuropsychological impairments in PCS. While cognitive performance significantly improved in many domains, neuropsychiatric symptoms remained unchanged.

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Concepts	Keywords
Asymptomatic	Cognitive deficits
Covid	Long COVID
Frequently	Neurocognitive disorder
Month	Neuropsychology
Psychiatry	SARS-CoV-2
	Subjective complaints

Semantics

Type	Source	Name
disease	MESH	cognitive impairment
disease	MESH	COVID-19
disease	MESH	syndrome
disease	VO	report
disease	IDO	acute infection
disease	IDO	quality
disease	VO	time
disease	MESH	neurocognitive disorder
disease	MESH	infection
disease	VO	organ
disease	MESH	Long COVID
disease	IDO	symptom
drug	DRUGBANK	Trestolone
disease	MESH	influenza
disease	MESH	acute respiratory distress syndrome
disease	MESH	severe acute respiratory syndrome
disease	MESH	Middle East respiratory syndrome
disease	MESH	post traumatic stress disorder
disease	MESH	morbidities
disease	MESH	Infectious Diseases
disease	MESH	dementia
disease	IDO	history
disease	IDO	process
drug	DRUGBANK	Pentaerythritol tetranitrate
disease	MESH	daytime sleepiness
drug	DRUGBANK	Cycloserine
drug	DRUGBANK	Esomeprazole
disease	MESH	Sleepiness
disease	MESH	sleep quality
disease	VO	population
drug	DRUGBANK	Proline
drug	DRUGBANK	Coenzyme M
disease	MESH	viral infections
disease	VO	effective
disease	MESH	sleep disorder
disease	IDO	intervention
drug	DRUGBANK	Cefalotin
disease	VO	Algenpantucel-L Vaccine
disease	VO	Colorectal cancer DNA vaccine pCEA/HBsAg encoding carcinoembryonic antigen and hepatitis B surface antigen
disease	MESH	sequelae
drug	DRUGBANK	Cysteamine
disease	VO	Em vaccine adjuvant
disease	MESH	Mental Disorders
drug	DRUGBANK	Copper
disease	MESH	abnormalities
drug	DRUGBANK	ATP
drug	DRUGBANK	Diflunisal
disease	MESH	Neurodegenerative Diseases

Original Article

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