By Linda Carroll -
NBC News
Many people who have recovered from COVID-19 infection continue to experience cognitive decline more than seven months later, according to new research.
The study, which describes the types of cognitive problems suffered by patients who had been treated at the Mount Sinai system in New York, adds to growing evidence that there are long-term effects.
Those who suffered from coronavirus can experience countless ailments weeks and even
months after being infected.
Up to 24% of people who have recovered from COVID-19 continue to have some form of cognitive difficulties, including
problems with memory,
multitasking, rapid information processing and
focus,
researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine reported in Mount Sinai on Friday on the JAMA open network.
Patients of different ages have shown cognitive problems for up to seven months after being infected, in both severe and mild cases.
"We are seeing long-term cognitive decline in a variety of age groups and disease severity levels," said study author Jacqueline Becker, a clinical neuropsychologist and associate scientist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
For the research, 740 patients were tested who had signed up to be part of a registry run by Mount Sinai, one of New York's largest hospital systems that has been treating COVID-19 patients since the early days of the pandemic.
The patients, who were evaluated between April 2020 and May 2021, were 18 years of age or older, spoke English or Spanish, tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and
had no history of dementia.
The results showed a relatively high rate of cognitive decline 7.6 months after the patients had contracted the disease.
The most common cognitive deficit, affecting nearly 1 in 4 patients, was a
problem with storing new memories,
followed by memory problems.
Other reported challenges were deficiencies in the speed of processing ideas and executive functioning, which includes the ability to initiate, plan, organize and make judgments.
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While hospitalized patients were more likely to have cognitive impairments, patients who were only treated in the emergency department had also developed problems.
Other hospitals are registering similar complications in their patients.
At Northwestern Medical Center, some people who were infected with the virus ended up with cognitive problems so severe that they were unable to care for themselves after being discharged, neurologist Igor Koralnik, head of the division of neuroinfectious diseases, told NBC News. and global neurology.
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"This study confirms what we have also seen at Northwestern: that cognitive problems are persistent in both patients who were previously hospitalized and in patients who only had mild respiratory symptoms," Koralnik said.
Young Adults at Risk for Brain Problems Due to COVID-19
While it is not surprising to find cognitive problems in those who were so ill that they required ventilator assistance in hospitals, it is not clear why young patients with mild illness would be affected, Koralnik added.
Also, no one knows when, or if, any of these patients will revert to their pre-COVID-19 state, Koralnik said.
Because even younger patients who had a mild case of the disease reported cognitive difficulties, Becker recommended post-Covid screening for mental decline as a standard of care, regardless of the patient's age.
Seeing severe mental deficits in patients in their 20s, 30s and 40s is "heartbreaking,"
said Dr. Helen Lavretsky, a professor of psychiatry and director of the UCLA Post-Covid Clinic.
Some say that “they cannot work;
they cannot think;
your memory is impaired;
they get confused when they drive to places they don't know how they got there ”.
While there have been reports that vaccination helps against these long-term effects of COVID-19, UCLA has seen mixed results.
Some people get better, while others stay the same or get worse, Lavretsky said.
The scale of the problem is immense.
More than 45 million cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the US While most people who have been infected recover within weeks, there are many who are dealing with persistent symptoms.
"Between 20 and 30% will have this protracted reaction," Lavretsky said.
“In any school situation or complex work environment, this can really affect performance.
Hopefully, a person can continue to function at a lower level than they used to, ”he said.
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Currently, the only treatment is therapies that help people fix their deficits, said Tracy Vannorsdall, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Therapists ask patients about their strengths and weaknesses and then design a program that will teach patients how to use their strengths to compensate for their weaknesses, Vannorsdall said.
"These people look forward to being able to return to their work, family and community and participate in meaningful activities," Vannorsdall said.
"They want to be at their best cognitive level," he said.