Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug;272(5):773-782.
doi: 10.1007/s00406-021-01346-9. Epub 2021 Oct 26.

Long-term consequences of COVID-19 on cognitive functioning up to 6 months after discharge: role of depression and impact on quality of life

Sara Poletti  1   2 , Mariagrazia Palladini  3 , Mario Gennaro Mazza  3   4 , Rebecca De Lorenzo  4   5 ; COVID-19 BioB Outpatient Clinic Study group; Roberto Furlan  6 , Fabio Ciceri  4   5 , Patrizia Rovere-Querini  4   5 , Francesco Benedetti  3   4
Collaborators, Affiliations

Long-term consequences of COVID-19 on cognitive functioning up to 6 months after discharge: role of depression and impact on quality of life

Sara Poletti et al. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Neurologic and psychiatric symptoms have been reported in the months following the infection with COVID-19. A low-grade inflammation has been associated both with depression and cognitive symptoms, suggesting a link between these disorders. The aim of the study is to investigate cognitive functioning 6 months following hospital discharge for COVID-19, the impact of depression, and the consequences on quality of life. Ninety-two COVID-19 survivors evaluated at 1-month follow-up, 122 evaluated at 3 months and 98 evaluated at 6 months performed neuropsychological and psychiatric evaluations and were compared with a healthy comparison group (HC) of 165 subjects and 165 patients with major depression (MDD). Cognitive performances were adjusted for age, sex, and education. Seventy-nine percent of COVID-19 survivors at 1 month and 75% at 3- and 6-month follow-up showed cognitive impairment in at least one cognitive function. No significant difference in cognitive performances was observed between 1-, 3-, and 6-months follow-up. COVID-19 patients performed worse than HC but better than MDD in psychomotor coordination and speed of information processing. No difference between COVID-19 survivors and MDD was observed for verbal fluency, and executive functions, which were lower than in HC. Finally, COVID-19 survivors performed the same as HC in working memory and verbal memory. The factor that most affected cognitive performance was depressive psychopathology which, in turn, interact with cognitive functions in determining quality of life. Our results confirm that COVID-19 sequelae include signs of cognitive impairment which persist up to 6 months after hospital discharge and affect quality of life.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cognitive impairment; Depression.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Not applicable.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percentages of impaired cognitive functions in COVID-19 survivors at 1-, 3-, and 6-month follow-up
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Mean adjusted scores of cognitive performances in COVID-19 survivors at 1-, 3-, and 6-month follow-up. Scores are adjusted for age, sex and education
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Neuropsychological Profiles on the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) for COVID-19 survivors compared to healthy comparisons and major depression
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Graphical representation of the effects of cognitive functions and depression on quality of life. A Main effect of cognitive functions and depression. B Interaction between depression and cognitive functions
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
A Interaction effect of sex*depression on verbal memory. B Interaction effect of sex*depression on executive functions
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alam A, Hana Z, Jin Z, Suen KC, Ma D. Surgery, neuroinflammation and cognitive impairment. EBioMedicine. 2018;37:547–556. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2018.10.021. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Almeria M, Cejudo JC, Sotoca J, Deus J, Krupinski J. Cognitive profile following COVID-19 infection: clinical predictors leading to neuropsychological impairment. Brain Behav Immun Health. 2020;9:100163. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2020.100163. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anselmetti S, Poletti S, Ermoli E, Bechi M, Cappa S, Venneri A, Smeraldi E, Cavallaro R. The brief assessment of cognition in schizophrenia. normative data for the Italian population. Neurol Sci. 2008;29:85–92. doi: 10.1007/s10072-008-0866-9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Arabi YM, Harthi A, Hussein J, Bouchama A, Johani S, Hajeer AH, Saeed BT, Wahbi A, Saedy A, AlDabbagh T, Okaili R, Sadat M, Balkhy H. Severe neurologic syndrome associated with Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus (MERS-CoV) Infection. 2015;43:495–501. doi: 10.1007/s15010-015-0720-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Atique-Ur-Rehman H, Neill JC. Cognitive dysfunction in major depression: From assessment to novel therapies. Pharmacol Ther. 2019;202:53–71. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2019.05.013. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources