Objective:

To evaluate cognitive and neuropsychiatric changes in patients with neurological disease after covid-19.

Background:

Cognitive dysfunction and brain fog, caracterized by fatigue, impaired memory and lack of concentration, are the most common symptoms of long covid.

Design/Methods:

A longitudinal prospective study designed to compare the cognitive performance after covid-19, based on cognitive complaints. Patients aged 18 to 65 years old (y.o.) without a history of neurological or psychiatric disorder were included, illiterate individuals were excluded. The Beck Anxiety and Depression Inventories (BAI and BDI), the Addenbrooke´s Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R), the Trail Making Test (TMT) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were applied at 0, 3, and 6 months.

Results:

Fifty-eight patients were included, 63.97% women, 72.41% with cognitive complaints. The mean age was 46 y.o. (SD 9.82), median of 45.50 y.o, the mean educational level was 14.17 years (SD 3.87), median of 15 years, and the mean time between the first covid-19 symptom and the onset of neurological symptoms was 48.10 days (SD 61.37), median of 25.50 days. Patients without cognitive complaints scored lower on the BDI, with a mean of 7.36 (SD 7.19) and a median of 7, compared to patients with cognitive complaints, who had a mean of 13.69 (SD 9.20) and a median of 12.50 in the third assessment (6 months) (p = 0.045). Additionally, a trend was noted regarding cognitive complaints, anxiety, and depression in the second assessment (3 months), as well as a trend related to anxiety in the third assessment. In relation to cognitive complaints, there was a trend in MMSE performance at the third assessment, but no significant differences were found at other time points for this test or for the ACE-R or TMT.

Conclusions: