Flegr Jaroslav, Latifi Ashkan
Department of Philosophy and History of Sciences, Faculty of Science, Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology, Charles University, Prague 128 00, Czechia.
Biol Methods Protoc. 2023 Dec 7;8(1):bpad038. doi: 10.1093/biomethods/bpad038. eCollection 2023.
COVID-19 affects a variety of organs and systems of the body including the central nervous system. Recent research has shown that COVID-19 survivors often experience neurological and psychiatric complications that can last for months after infection. We conducted a large Internet study using online tests to analyze the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19 severity, and vaccination on health, intelligence, memory, and information processing precision and speed in a cohort of 4445 subjects. We found that both SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity were associated with negative impacts on patients' health. Furthermore, we observed a negative association between COVID-19 severity and cognitive performance. Younger participants had a higher likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 contraction, while the elderly had a higher likelihood of severe COVID-19 and vaccination. The association between age and COVID-19 severity was primarily mediated by older participants' impaired long-term health. Vaccination was positively associated with intelligence and the precision of information processing. However, the positive association between vaccination and intelligence was likely mediated by achieved education, which was itself strongly associated with the likelihood of being vaccinated.
新冠病毒（COVID-19）会影响身体的多种器官和系统，包括中枢神经系统。近期研究表明，新冠病毒感染者康复后常出现神经和精神方面的并发症，这些并发症在感染后可能持续数月。我们开展了一项大型网络研究，通过在线测试分析了4445名受试者中，感染严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）、新冠病毒疾病严重程度以及接种疫苗对健康、智力、记忆、信息处理精度和速度的影响。我们发现，感染SARS-CoV-2和新冠病毒疾病严重程度均与对患者健康的负面影响相关。此外，我们观察到新冠病毒疾病严重程度与认知表现之间存在负相关。较年轻的参与者感染SARS-CoV-2的可能性更高，而老年人患重症新冠病毒疾病和接种疫苗的可能性更高。年龄与新冠病毒疾病严重程度之间的关联主要是由老年参与者受损的长期健康状况介导的。接种疫苗与智力以及信息处理精度呈正相关。然而，接种疫苗与智力之间的正相关可能是由受教育程度介导的，而受教育程度本身与接种疫苗的可能性密切相关。
