Long-COVID or long before? Neurocognitive deficits in people with COVID-19, 2022, Baumeister et al

Highlights

• The COVID group of the follow-up survey reported increased subjective neurocognitive complaints.
• These complaints were not consistent with objective test performance.
• The COVID group showed a greater depressive symptom burden compared with the non-COVID group.
• Complaints need to be put into perspective when considering pre-pandemic data, as they were present prior to infection.

Abstract

In connection with COVID-19 disease, evidence of persisting psychiatric and neurocognitive effects is accumulating. To examine long COVID symptoms, baseline data from 2015 (i.e., before the pandemic) and follow-up data from 2021 from 428 participants were compared. Participants with COVID-19 reported more subjective neurocognitive complaints in the follow-up, but this did not correspond to the test performance. Also, greater depressive symptoms compared with the no-COVID group were reported. However, these complaints must be put into perspective when considering the baseline data, since complaints were present before the COVID infection. Thus, premorbid performance as well as psychological factors should be considered when discussing long COVID.

Open access, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178122004152