Dados do Trabalho

Título

Cognitive complaints assessment and neuropsychiatric disorders after mild COVID-19 infection

Resumo

Introduction: There are an increasing number of reports of persistent and prolonged effects after the acute phase of COVID-19. Damage to the CNS can have a long-term negative impact on cognitive function, daily functioning, and quality of life, even several months after recovery from COVID-19. Reports of acute cognitive complications, such as attention and dysexecutive symptoms, are also emerging.

Objectives: To analyze cognitive impairment related to long term COVID-19 and its correlation with anxiety, depression, and fatigue in patients with mild COVID-19.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study performed in a cohort of 127 patients with COVID-19. These patients were regularly followed up from September 2020 to September 2021. Tests to screen for neuropsychiatric symptoms included Mini-Mental State Exam 2 (MMSE-2), Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

Results: Tests were performed a median of seven months after COVID-19 infection, with the test application time varying between one and 18 months.
SDMT was abnormal in 22%, and the BV version of MMSE-2 was abnormal in 16.5%, while the EV and SV versions were normal.
There were significant positive correlations between the versions of the MMSE-2 and SDMT (p< 001 for all tests). In contrast, there were significant negative correlations between the different versions of the MMSE-2 and SDMT with depression (r=-2.88, p<0.001 and r=-0.397, p<0.001, respectively) and anxiety (r=-0.175, p=0.049 and r=-0.198, p=0.026, respectively). There was a significant negative correlation with SDMT (r=-0.212, p=.017), but not with MMSE-2 (r=-0.149, p=0.094). However, the presence of a greater degree of these neuropsychiatric conditions correlated little with worse performance on the test.

Conclusions: Even in those with a mild presentation, cognitive impairment complaints were frequent in patients with COVID-19. Screening tests, such as SDMT, helped confirm changes in the attentional domain and processing speed, especially in patients with cognitive impairment complaints after infection. Although manifestations such as fatigue, depression, and anxiety were frequent in the post COVID-19 phase, especially in those with complaints of cognitive deficits, these three conditions that are known to contribute to cognitive impairment showed little correlation with worse performance on rapid screening tests.

Palavras Chave

Covid19; Cognitive Function; Neuropsychiatry