Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Department of Medical Psychology ǀ Neuropsychology and Gender Studies and Center for Neuropsychological Diagnostics and Intervention (CeNDI), Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2024 Dec;274(8):1945-1957. doi: 10.1007/s00406-024-01863-3. Epub 2024 Jul 24.
Some people infected with SARS-CoV-2 report persisting symptoms following acute infection. If these persist for over three months, they are classified as post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS). Although PCS is frequently reported, detailed longitudinal neuropsychological characterization remains scarce. We aimed to describe the trajectory of cognitive and neuropsychiatric PCS symptoms. 42 individuals with persisting cognitive deficits after asymptomatic to mild/moderate acute COVID-19 at study inclusion received neuropsychological assessment at baseline (BL) and follow-up (FU; six months after BL). Assessments included comprehensive testing of five neurocognitive domains, two cognitive screening tests, and questionnaires on depression, anxiety, sleep, fatigue, and health-related quality of life. Results showed high rates of subjective cognitive complaints at BL and FU (95.2% versus 88.1%) without significant change over time. However, objectively measured neurocognitive disorder (NCD) decreased (61.9% versus 42.9%). All cognitive domains were affected, yet most deficits were found in learning and memory, followed by executive functions, complex attention, language, and perceptual motor functions. In individuals with NCD, the first three domains mentioned improved significantly over time, while the last two domains remained unchanged. Cognitive screening tests did not prove valuable in detecting impairment. Neuropsychiatric symptoms remained constant except for quality of life, which improved. This study emphasizes the importance of comprehensive neuropsychological assessment in longitudinal research and provides valuable insights into the trajectory of long-term neuropsychological impairments in PCS. While cognitive performance significantly improved in many domains, neuropsychiatric symptoms remained unchanged.
一些感染 SARS-CoV-2 的人在急性感染后会持续出现症状。如果这些症状持续超过三个月，则被归类为新冠后综合征 (PCS)。尽管 PCS 经常被报道，但详细的纵向神经心理学特征仍然很少。我们旨在描述认知和神经精神 PCS 症状的轨迹。42 名在无症状至轻度/中度急性 COVID-19 后持续存在认知缺陷的个体在研究纳入时接受了神经心理学评估，分别在基线 (BL) 和随访 (FU；BL 后 6 个月) 进行。评估包括五个神经认知领域的综合测试、两个认知筛查测试以及关于抑郁、焦虑、睡眠、疲劳和健康相关生活质量的问卷。结果显示，BL 和 FU 时的主观认知抱怨率很高（95.2%比 88.1%），但随着时间的推移没有明显变化。然而，客观测量的神经认知障碍 (NCD) 减少了（61.9%比 42.9%）。所有认知领域都受到影响，但大多数缺陷出现在学习和记忆中，其次是执行功能、复杂注意力、语言和知觉运动功能。在 NCD 个体中，前三个提到的领域随着时间的推移显著改善，而最后两个领域保持不变。认知筛查测试在检测损伤方面没有证明是有价值的。神经精神症状保持不变，除了生活质量有所改善。本研究强调了在纵向研究中进行全面神经心理学评估的重要性，并为 PCS 中长期神经心理学损伤的轨迹提供了有价值的见解。虽然许多领域的认知表现显著改善，但神经精神症状保持不变。
