Cognitive and mental health outcomes in long covid.

Publication date: Jul 16, 2025

Roughly one in five adults who meet criteria for long covid present with objective or subjective cognitive dysfunction or elevated symptoms of depression or anxiety lasting ≥12 weeks from an acute covid illness. These neuropsychiatric sequelae have considerable functional consequences at the level of the individual, society, and the broader economy. Neuropsychiatric long covid symptoms are thought to be causally diverse, and a range of risk factors as well as biological, psychological, and environmental mechanisms have been hypothesized to contribute to symptom development and persistence. When present, objective cognitive deficits tend to be modest for most individuals, with some evidence suggesting increased risk of dysfunction and decline specifically for older adults with a history of severe acute illness. Longitudinal data suggest a delayed emergence of psychiatric symptoms may occur in the weeks and months after an acute covid illness. Emerging research points to the early recovery period as a potential window of opportunity for intervention to alter patient trajectories, though evidence based treatment remains lacking.

Open Access PDF

Concepts	Keywords
Economy	Anxiety
Environmental	Cognitive Dysfunction
Lacking	COVID-19
Psychiatric	Depression
Weeks	Humans
	Mental Health
	Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
	Risk Factors
	SARS-CoV-2

Semantics

Type	Source	Name
disease	MESH	long covid
disease	MESH	cognitive dysfunction
disease	MESH	depression
disease	MESH	anxiety
disease	MESH	sequelae
disease	IDO	symptom
disease	IDO	history
disease	IDO	intervention
disease	MESH	SARS CoV 2 infection
disease	MESH	breathlessness
disease	MESH	joint pain
disease	MESH	abnormalities
disease	MESH	brain fog
disease	MESH	syndrome
disease	MESH	infections
disease	MESH	Neurodegenerative Diseases
pathway	REACTOME	Neurodegenerative Diseases
disease	MESH	Critical Illness
drug	DRUGBANK	Indoleacetic acid
disease	IDO	acute infection
disease	MESH	mental disorder
disease	MESH	post traumatic stress disorder
drug	DRUGBANK	Factor IX Complex (Human)
disease	MESH	overdiagnosis
disease	IDO	infection
disease	MESH	psychosocial functioning
disease	MESH	neurologic symptoms
disease	MESH	stroke
disease	MESH	encephalitis
disease	MESH	encephalopathy
disease	MESH	inflammation
disease	MESH	thrombosis
disease	MESH	ischemia
disease	MESH	hypoxia
disease	MESH	ischemic stroke
pathway	REACTOME	Apoptosis
disease	MESH	cerebral hypoxia
disease	IDO	blood
disease	MESH	postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome
disease	MESH	substance use
disease	MESH	adverse childhood experiences
pathway	REACTOME	Immune System
disease	IDO	susceptibility
drug	DRUGBANK	Methionine
disease	MESH	post concussion syndrome
disease	MESH	emotional distress
disease	MESH	cardiovascular disease
disease	MESH	obesity
disease	MESH	hypertension
disease	MESH	sleep apnea
drug	DRUGBANK	Gold
disease	MESH	respiratory infections
disease	MESH	dementia
disease	MESH	myalgic encephalomyelitis
disease	MESH	uncertainty

Original Article

(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)