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. 2022 Jun 9;6(1):297-305.
doi: 10.3233/ADR-220020. eCollection 2022.

Mild Cognitive Disorder in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: A Retrospective Cohort Study of 67,000 Primary Care Post-COVID Patients

Jens Bohlken  1 , Kerstin Weber  2 , Steffi Riedel Heller  1 , Bernhard Michalowsky  3 , Karel Kostev  4
Affiliations

Mild Cognitive Disorder in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: A Retrospective Cohort Study of 67,000 Primary Care Post-COVID Patients

Jens Bohlken et al. J Alzheimers Dis Rep. .

Abstract

Background: Little is known about the impact of COVID-19 on mild cognitive disorder.

Objective: The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to investigate whether COVID-19 diagnosis is associated with subsequent mild cognitive disorder (MCD) compared to acute upper respiratory infections (AURI).

Methods: This retrospective cohort study used data from the Disease Analyzer database (IQVIA) and included 67,046 patients with first-time symptomatic or asymptomatic COVID-19 diagnoses in 1,172 general practices in Germany between March 2020 and September 2021. Diagnoses were based on ICD-10 codes. Patients diagnosed with AURI were matched to 67,046 patients with COVID-19 using propensity scores based on sex, age, index month, and comorbidities. The index date was the diagnosis date for either COVID-19 or AURI. Associations between the COVID-19 and MCD were studied using conditional Poisson regression models.

Results: The incidence of MCD was 7.6 cases per 1,000 person-years in the COVID-19 group and 5.1 cases per 1,000 person-years in the AURI group (IRR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.22-1.82). The incidence rate ratio decreased strongly with increasing age from 10.08 (95% CI = 4.00-24.42) in the age group≤50 to 1.03 (95% CI = 0.81-1.31) in the age group > 70. In addition, the association between COVID-19 and MCD was significant in women (IRR: 1.70, 95% CI: 1.34-2.16) but not in men (IRR: 1.08, 95% CI: 0.75-1.56).

Conclusion: The incidence of MCD was low but significantly higher in COVID-19 than in AURI patients, especially among younger patients. If a cognitive disorder is suspected, referral to a specialist is recommended.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Germany; general practices; mild cognitive disorder; post-COVID.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to report.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Selection of study patients.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan-Meier curves for incidence of mild cognitive disorder in patients with COVID-19 versus patients with upper respiratory tract infection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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