Disentangling the cognitive, physical, and mental health sequelae of COVID-19

Conor J Wild; Loretta Norton; David K Menon; David A Ripsman; Richard H Swartz; Adrian M Owen

doi:10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100750

Disentangling the cognitive, physical, and mental health sequelae of COVID-19

Cell Rep Med. 2022 Oct 18;3(10):100750. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100750. Epub 2022 Sep 7.

Authors

Conor J Wild¹, Loretta Norton², David K Menon³, David A Ripsman⁴, Richard H Swartz⁵, Adrian M Owen⁶

Affiliations

¹ Western Institute for Neuroscience, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada. Electronic address: cwild@uwo.ca.
² Western Institute for Neuroscience, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada; Department of Psychology, King's University College, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada.
³ Division of Anaesthesia, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK.
⁴ Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 2B5, Canada.
⁵ Department of Medicine (Neurology), Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada.
⁶ Western Institute for Neuroscience, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada; Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada.

Abstract

As COVID-19 cases exceed hundreds of millions globally, many survivors face cognitive challenges and prolonged symptoms. However, important questions about the cognitive effects of COVID-19 remain unresolved. In this cross-sectional online study, 478 adult volunteers who self-reported a positive test for COVID-19 (mean = 30 days since most recent test) perform significantly worse than pre-pandemic norms on cognitive measures of processing speed, reasoning, verbal, and overall performance, but not short-term memory, suggesting domain-specific deficits. Cognitive differences are even observed in participants who did not require hospitalization. Factor analysis of health- and COVID-related questionnaires reveals two clusters of symptoms-one that varies mostly with physical symptoms and illness severity, and one with mental health. Cognitive performance is positively correlated with the global measure encompassing physical symptoms, but not the one that broadly describes mental health, suggesting that the subjective experience of "long COVID" relates to physical symptoms and cognitive deficits, especially executive dysfunction.

Keywords: COVID-19; cognition; cross-sectional online study; long COVID; mental health; physical health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Cognition
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Mental Health*
Neuropsychological Tests