Factors associated with older adults' cognitive decline 6 months after gamma-variant SARS-CoV-2 infection

Vanessa Giffoni M N P Peixoto; Lucas Alves Facci; Thiago C S Barbalho; Raíssa Nascimento Souza; Alice Mendes Duarte; Marina Bruxel Dos Santos; Katie Moraes Almondes

doi:10.3389/fneur.2024.1334161

Factors associated with older adults' cognitive decline 6 months after gamma-variant SARS-CoV-2 infection

Front Neurol. 2024 Feb 15:15:1334161. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1334161. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Vanessa Giffoni M N P Peixoto^{1

2}, Lucas Alves Facci³, Thiago C S Barbalho³, Raíssa Nascimento Souza³, Alice Mendes Duarte³, Marina Bruxel Dos Santos⁴, Katie Moraes Almondes^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Post-graduation Program in Psychobiology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
² Department of Clinical Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
³ Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.

Abstract

Background: Cognitive deficits are commonly reported after COVID-19 recovery, but little is known in the older population. This study aims to investigate possible cognitive damage in older adults 6 months after contracting COVID-19, as well as individual risk factors.

Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 70 participants aged 60-78 with COVID-19 6 months prior and 153 healthy controls. Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Basic (MoCA-B) screened for cognitive impairment; Geriatric Depression Scale and Geriatric Anxiety Inventory screened for depression and anxiety. Data were collected on demographics and self-reports of comorbid conditions.

Results: The mean age of participants was 66.97 ± 4.64 years. A higher proportion of individuals in the COVID group complained about cognitive deficits (χ² = 3.574; p = 0.029) and presented with deficient MoCA-B scores (χ² = 6.098, p = 0.014) compared to controls. After controlling for multiple variables, all the following factors resulted in greater odds of a deficient MoCA-B: COVID-19 6-months prior (OR, 2.44; p = 0.018), age (OR, 1.15; p < 0.001), lower income (OR, 0.36; p = 0.070), and overweight (OR, 2.83; p = 0.013). Further analysis pointed to individual characteristics in COVID-19-affected patients that could explain the severity of the cognitive decline: age (p = 0.015), lower income (p < 0.001), anxiety (p = 0.049), ageusia (p = 0.054), overweight (p < 0.001), and absence of cognitively stimulating activities (p = 0.062).

Conclusion: Our study highlights a profile of cognitive risk aggravation over aging after COVID-19 infection, which is likely mitigated by wealth but worsened in the presence of overweight. Ageusia at the time of acute COVID-19, anxiety, being overweight, and absence of routine intellectual activities are risk factors for more prominent cognitive decline among those infected by COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cognition; cognitive decline; long-term; older adults; post-COVID syndrome.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001.