Höfundar:
Ingibjörg Magnúsdóttir, Unnur A. Valdimarsdóttir, Thor Aspelund, Arna Hauksdóttir, Jóhanna Jakobsdóttir, Fang Fang
One of the most reported symptoms of post COVID-19 condition is “brain fog” or cognitive deficit. Cognitive deficit may be a direct consequence of neuroinflammation or physical deconditioning during the acute illness, or an indirect consequence of sleep disruption or psychiatric symptoms, secondary to the illness. This study aims to assess the prevalence of compromised cognitive function among individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the general population by acute infection severity up to two years after diagnosis.
Participants in this study consist of about 100.000 individuals from population cohorts in Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, answering questionnaires on COVID-19 diagnosis (and days bedridden due to the illness) as well as cognitive function (PROMIS short form – cognitive function 8a) in April 2020-November 2022. In a cross-sectional analysis, we contrasted past week symptoms of cognitive function among individuals with and without a diagnosis of COVID-19 at entry from 0 to 2 years from diagnosis, adjusting for relevant covariates.
Preliminary results for the Icelandic cohort (N=16.232) are ready as of now. In total 1135 individuals were diagnosed with COVID-19. Individuals bedridden 7 days or longer due to COVID-19 had a significantly higher prevalence of compromised cognitive function compared to those never diagnosed (prevalence ratio [PR] 4.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.0-5.4) but those never bedridden did not differ significantly (PR 1.2, 95% CI 0.8-1.7).
Preliminary results suggest that COVID-19 illness – especially severe illness – is associated with compromised cognitive function among recovering individuals. Results from the entire cohort will be presented in May.