Dados do Trabalho

Título

Neuropsychiatric disorders of COVID-19 after mild SARS-CoV-2 infection

Resumo

Introduction: COVID-19, a disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. It is a disease that affects multiple systems, including neuropsychiatric manifestations such as anxiety, depression, fatigue and sleep disorders. These disorders may persist after the acute phase, leading to impairment of cognition and life quality.

Objectives: To analyze the prevalence of persistent neuropsychiatric manifestations (fatigue, depression and anxiety) after primary COVID-19 infection.

Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in a cohort of 146 patients who had mild COVID-19 infection. Patients were seen at the Post-COVID-19 Outpatient Clinic of a university hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from September 2020 to May 2022. Tests were performed to screen for neuropsychiatric symptoms, including the fatigue severity scale (FSS) , Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), in addition to surveys to collect socio demographic data. The HADS classifies patients into unlikely, possible and probable diagnoses of depression and/or anxiety.

Results: Tests performed an average of 6.95 (RI: 1 - 24) months after COVID-19 infection. The patients average age was 22 (RI: 19 - 71). 75.34% of patients were female. 47.26% of patients have previous comorbidities. 54.79% of patients reported presence of subjective cognitive deficit after COVID-19 infection. Per the evaluation of the FSS, 71.91% of the patients presented fatigue after infection by COVID-19. Among the evaluated patients, 19.86% had probable depression, with the same value for possible depression. 30.13% of the patients had probable anxiety, while 20.54% had possible anxiety.

Conclusion: The scales used showed that patients with mild COVID-19 infection had frequent complaints of chronic fatigue, anxiety and depression. In addition, more than half of the patients reported some component of subjective cognitive deficit, which may be related to the referred alterations. Further investigations and evaluations are needed regarding the origin of the reported complaints, since the period of confinement and social isolation can contribute to the emergence of neuropsychiatric complaints evidenced in the study.

Palavras Chave

COVID-19