Problems with memory and ability to concentrate after an outbreak of COVID-19

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Seven out of ten long-term ill patients with COVID-19 have problems concentrating, according to new research from the University of Cambridgetion and memory even months after the onset of the disease, with many performing worse on cognitive tests than their peers.

The study found:

• In the study, about 70% of patients with long-term COVID-19 disease had concentration and memory problems several months after being infected with SARS-CoV-2;
• long-term COVID-19 patients had worse performance on cognitive tests;
• the severity of these symptoms was associated with fatigue and neurological symptoms, such as dizziness and headache, that appeared during the initial COVID-19 illness;
• half of the patients in the study reported having difficulty getting their doctor to take their symptoms seriously;
• 75% of study participants with severe persistent symptoms of long-term COVID-19 disease reported being unable to work for long periods of time.

This is important evidence that when people say they have cognitive problems after COVID-19, it is not necessarily the result of anxiety or depression.

The effects are measurable – “there is something worrying going on,” said Dr Muzaffer Kaser, a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and consultant psychiatrist at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, who was involved in the study. And he added:

“Memory problems can significantly affect people’s everyday lives, including their ability to do their jobs properly.”

The findings, which have been published in two papers in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, are among the first results of an online study called ‘COVID and Cognition’. The latter tracked the symptoms of 181 patients with COVID-19 over 18 months. Most of them had suffered from the disease for at least six months before the study began. Very few were sick enough to be hospitalized. For comparison, the study included an additional 185 people who did not have COVID-19 disease. Dr Cheke, a researcher from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Psychology and lead author of the paper, said:

“People think that long COVID is ‘just’ tiredness or coughing, but cognitive problems are the second most common symptom. And our data suggest that this is because it has a significant impact on the ability to remember.”

“Infection with the virus that causes COVID-19 can lead to inflammation in the body, and this inflammation can affect behavior and cognitioncognitive performance in ways that we still don’t fully understand, but we think are related to early immune overreaction,” Kaser said.

Study participants were recruited between October 2020 and March 2021, when the Alpha variant and the original SARS-CoV-2 form were circulating in the population. Participants will continue to be monitored with symptom reports and objective cognitive tests to see how long their symptoms persist.

The Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines describe post-covid syndrome as “signs or symptoms that develop during or after infection consistent with COVID-19 disease, last longer than 12 weeks and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis.”

The study found that even among those who were not admitted to the hospital, people who had worse initial symptoms of COVID-19 had moremore likely to have a variety of persistent symptoms (including nausea, abdominal pain, chest tightness, and breathing problems) weeks or months later. These symptoms were likely to be more severe than in people whose initial illness was mild. It was also found that people over the age of 30 were more likely to have severe persistent symptoms than people younger.

References:
Guo, P. et al: ‘COVCOG 1: Factors predicting Physical, Neurological and Cognitive Symptoms in Long COVID: A First Publication from the COVID and Cognition Study.’ Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, March 2022. DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.804922
Guo, P. et al: ‘COVCOG 2: Cognitive and Memory Deficits in Long COVID: A Second Publication from the COVID and Cognition Study.’ Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, March 2022. DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.804937

Source: Memory and concentration problems are common in long COVID and must not be ignored, say scientists (cam.ac.uk)

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