Effects of COVID-19 on cognition and mood after hospitalization and at 2-month follow-up

Frontiers in Psychology

Psychology

Mladen Gasparini¹  Rado Pišot²  Saša Pišot²  Boštjan Šimunič²  Manca Peskar³  Luka Šlosar⁴  Uros Marusic⁴  Kaja Teraž⁵ 

[1] Department of General Surgery, General Hospital Izola, Izola, Slovenia;Institute for Kinesiology Research, Science and Research Centre Koper, Koper, Slovenia;Institute for Kinesiology Research, Science and Research Centre Koper, Koper, Slovenia;Biological Psychology and Neuroergonomics, Department of Psychology and Ergonomics, Faculty V: Mechanical Engineering and Transport Systems, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany;Institute for Kinesiology Research, Science and Research Centre Koper, Koper, Slovenia;Department of Health Sciences, Alma Mater Europaea – ECM, Maribor, Slovenia;Institute for Kinesiology Research, Science and Research Centre Koper, Koper, Slovenia;Faculty of Sports, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia;

关键词: COVID-19 recovery;    acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2;    cognitive function;    cognitive impairment;    MOCA;    trail-making test;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1141809

 received in 2023-01-13, accepted in 2023-04-19,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

A plethora of evidence links SARS-CoV-2 infection with concomitant cognitive dysfunction, which often persists weeks to months after the acute stages of illness and affects executive function, attention, memory, orientation, and movement control. It remains largely unclear which conditions or factors exacerbate the recovery. In a cohort of N=37 Slovenian patients (5 females, aged M = 58, SD = 10.7 years) that were hospitalized because of COVID-19, the cognitive function and mood states were assessed immediately after discharge and 2-months later to investigate the early post-COVID recovery changes. We assessed the global Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Simple and Choice Reaction Times, executive functions (Trail-Making Test – TMT-A and TMT-B), short-term memory (Auditory Verbal Learning Test – AVLT), and visuospatial memory. We monitored depressive and anxiety symptoms and applied general self-efficacy and cognitive complaints questionnaires. Our results showed a global cognitive impairment (MoCA, Z = 332.5; p = 0.012), poorer performance on executive functions (TMT-A, Z = 188; p = 0.014; and TMT-B, Z = 185; p = 0.012), verbal memory (AVLT, F = 33.4; p < 0.001), and delayed recall (AVLT7, F = 17.1; p < 0.001), and higher depressive (Z = 145; p = 0.015) and anxiety (Z = 141; p = 0.003) symptoms after hospital discharge compared to 2-month follow-up, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 may transiently impair cognitive function and adversely affect the mood. No improvement in MoCA was observed in 40.5% of the patients at follow-up, indicating possible long-term effects of COVID-19 on global cognitive performance. Medical comorbidities (p = 0.035) significantly predicted the change in MoCA score over time, while fat mass (FM, p = 0.518), Mediterranean diet index (p = .0.944), and Florida Cognitive Activities Score (p = 0.927) did not. These results suggest that the patients’ medical comorbidities at the time of SARS-CoV-2 infection could importantly contribute to the acute impairment of cognitive function and stress the importance of systemic implementation of countermeasures to limit the negative consequences on public health.

【 授权许可】

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Copyright © 2023 Peskar, Šimunič, Šlosar, Pišot, Teraž, Gasparini, Pišot and Marusic.