Cognitive dysfunction following COVID-19 infection

Rafi Hadad, Johad Khoury, Chen Stanger, Tali Fisher, Sonia Schneer, Rachel Ben-Hayun, Katherine Possin, Victor Valcour, Judith Aharon-Peretz, Yochai Adir

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is still evolving, causing hundreds of millions of infections around the world. The long-term sequelae of COVID-19 and neurologic syndromes post COVID remain poorly understood. The present study aims to characterize cognitive performance in patients experiencing cognitive symptoms post-COVID infection. Patients evaluated at a post COVID clinic in Northern Israel who endorsed cognitive symptoms were referred for neurologic consultation. The neurologic work-up included detailed medical history, symptom inventory, neurological examination, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), laboratory tests and brain CT or MRI. Between December 2020 and June 2021, 46 patients were referred for neurological consultation (65% female), mean age 49.5 (19–72 years). On the MoCA test, executive functions, particularly phonemic fluency, and attention, were impaired. In contrast, the total MoCA score, and memory and orientation subscores did not differ from expected ranges. Disease severity, premorbid condition, pulmonary function tests and hypoxia did not contribute to cognitive performance. Cognitive decline may affect otherwise healthy patients post-COVID, independent of disease severity. Our examination identified abnormalities in executive function, attention, and phonemic fluency. These findings occurred despite normal laboratory tests and imaging findings.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)430-437
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of NeuroVirology
Volume28
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

Keywords

  • Cognitive decline
  • Cognitive dysfunction following COVID-19 infection
  • Cognitive symptoms post-COVID infection
  • Executive dysfunction
  • Memory symptoms
  • Post-COVID
  • Post-COVID cognitive impairment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
  • Virology

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