Cognitive impairment in health care workers recovering from COVID-19 infection: a cross-sectional comparative study

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak has infected people all over the world where many clinics are being constructed to diagnose and treat lingering symptoms or long COVID. Neurological and long-term cognitive consequences are very worrisome. Many of COVID-19’s neurological symptoms are likely the result of the body’s extensive immunological response to infection rather than the virus attacking the brain or nervous system directly. At the same time, the extent and type of COVID-19’s cognitive consequences are unknown. The goal of this study was to assess the cognitive functions of healthcare workers 2 weeks to 3 months after COVID-19 infection. Ninety-two healthcare workers participated in the study; 32 were post-COVID-19 cases, and 60 were healthy people (the comparison group). The cognitive functions of the participants were assessed using the Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (ACE-III) test, which evaluated attention, memory, language, and visuospatial skills, as well as the Arabic version of the Patient Health Questionnaire Anxiety GAD-7 and Depression Assessments PHQ-9. Results: The study revealed that there was a highly significant direct correlation between post-infection with COVID-19 and scores of both anxiety and depression and an inverse correlation in the case of attention and memory. On the other hand, there is no statistical effect of post-COVID-19 on verbal fluency, language scores, and visio-spatial abilities. Using multiple linear regression, there was a powerful significant decrease effect of post-COVID-19 on memory scores controlling both anxiety and depression degrees (Beta = − 0.745, P < 0.001). Also, there was a strong negative correlation post-COVID-19 on attention scores controlling both anxiety and depression degrees (Beta = − 0.745, P < 0.001). Conclusions: The study showed a strong negative effect of post-COVID-19 on the attention and memory of patients. Furthermore, both anxiety and depression scores increased significantly among the post-COVID-19 patients.