Cognitive impairment can continue for many months after COVID-19
Last updated on: 30 October,2021 02:49 pm
All participants underwent in-person psychological testing
(Web Desk) - A new study has found that COVID-19 survivors may experience cognitive impairment, known colloquially as brain fog, for several months after diagnosis.
This study adds to evidence from previous work on long COVID. However, most other studies to date, including a large cohort study in the United Kingdom, have used self-reported confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection and online questionnaires to assess cognitive deficit.
In this new study, all participants underwent in-person psychological testing to assess cognitive function.
The cross-sectional study assessed the cognitive functioning of 740 people who had recovered from COVID-19 between April 2020 and May 2021. All had received hospital treatment for COVID-19, as either outpatients, inpatients, or patients in the emergency department.
All of the participants were aged 18 years or older with a mean age of 49 years and no history of dementia. They either had serum antibody positivity or had previously tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The team adjusted the results for race, ethnicity, smoking, body mass index, comorbidities, and depression. The mean time since COVID-19 diagnosis was 7.6 months.