Abdelghani Mohamed, Atwa Samar A, Said Amira, Zayed Niveen E, Abdelmoaty Ahmed A, Hassan Mervat S
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Sharkia Governorate Egypt.
2015-2016 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship, Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA USA.
Egypt J Neurol Psychiatr Neurosurg. 2022;58(1):77. doi: 10.1186/s41983-022-00505-6. Epub 2022 Jun 20.
COVID-19's after-effects among survivors are of increased concern. The cognitive aftermath of COVID-19 virus infection was underrated. This study aimed to identify and compare the cognitive impairment (CI) and its correlates among COVID-19 survivors and control subjects. A total of 85 adults who survived COVID-19 virus infection and an equal number of control subjects (matched for age, sex, education, and socioeconomic level) were included in this study. They were recruited from Zagazig University Hospitals, Sharkia Province, Egypt. All subjects were interviewed utilizing a semistructured demographic and clinical checklist, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test, and the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS).
More than half of COVID-19 survivors experienced CI (compared to only 8% of control subjects). Individuals who survived COVID-19 virus infection were more likely to have impairments in visuo-executive functions (OR: 0.3, 95% CI 0.2-0.5), attention (OR: 0.4, 95% CI 0.3-0.7), language (OR: 0.2, 95% CI 0.1-0.5), delayed recall (OR: 0.5, 95% CI 0.4-0.6), and total MoCA Scores (OR: 0.1, 95% CI 0.04-0.2). Among COVID-19 survivors, those who experienced CI were likely to be older (OR: 1.1, 95% CI 1.03-1.2), and of low-to-moderate education (OR: 4.9, 95% CI 1.6-15.1).
CI was prevalent among COVID-19 survivors. The visuo-executive functions, attention, language, and delayed recall were the most affected domains. Older age and lower educational level predicted CI in COVID-19 survivors.
新冠病毒感染幸存者的后遗症愈发受到关注。新冠病毒感染后的认知后果曾被低估。本研究旨在识别并比较新冠病毒感染幸存者与对照受试者的认知障碍（CI）及其相关因素。本研究纳入了85名新冠病毒感染康复的成年人以及同等数量的对照受试者（在年龄、性别、教育程度和社会经济水平方面匹配）。他们来自埃及谢赫村省的扎加齐格大学医院。所有受试者均接受了半结构化的人口统计学和临床检查表、蒙特利尔认知评估（MoCA）测试以及医院焦虑抑郁量表（HADS）的访谈。
超过一半的新冠病毒感染幸存者存在认知障碍（相比之下，对照受试者中只有8%存在认知障碍）。新冠病毒感染康复者更有可能在视觉执行功能（比值比：0.3，95%置信区间0.2 - 0.5）、注意力（比值比：0.4，95%置信区间0.3 - 0.7）、语言（比值比：0.2，95%置信区间0.1 - 0.5）、延迟回忆（比值比：0.5，95%置信区间0.4 - 0.6）以及MoCA总分（比值比：0.1，95%置信区间0.04 - 0.2）方面存在障碍。在新冠病毒感染幸存者中，存在认知障碍的人可能年龄更大（比值比：1.1，95%置信区间1.03 - 1.2），且教育程度为低至中等水平（比值比：4.9，95%置信区间1.6 - 15.1）。
认知障碍在新冠病毒感染幸存者中普遍存在。视觉执行功能、注意力、语言和延迟回忆是受影响最严重的领域。年龄较大和教育水平较低是新冠病毒感染幸存者认知障碍的预测因素。
