Post-COVID-19 brain health impaired versus healthy controls

Brain health after COVID-19 is impaired, but no more than that seen for patients hospitalized for other medical conditions of similar severity, according to a study published online Dec. 28 in JAMA Network Open.

Costanza Peinkhofer, M.D., from Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, and colleagues examined whether long-term cognitive, psychiatric, or neurological complications differ for patients hospitalized for COVID-19 versus those hospitalized for other medical conditions of similar severity as well as healthy controls in a prospective cohort study. One hundred twenty patients with COVID-19 were included and matched with 125 patients hospitalized for pneumonia, myocardial infarction, or non-COVID-19 intensive care-requiring illness between March 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, and 100 healthy age- and sex-matched individuals.

The researchers found that compared with healthy controls, patients with COVID-19 had worse cognitive status (estimated Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry [SCIP] score, 59.0 versus 68.8; estimated mean Montreal Cognitive Assessment [MoCA] score, 26.5 versus 28.2); scores were similar when compared with hospitalized controls (mean SCIP score, 61.6; mean MoCA score, 27.2). During all other psychiatric and neurologic assessments, patients with COVID-19 performed worse than healthy controls. The brain health of patients with COVID-19 was not more impaired than among hospitalized control patients, with the exception of executive dysfunction.

"Although studies with broader cognitive test batteries are needed to confirm these findings, brain health after COVID-19 seems overall comparable to that after other diseases of similar severity," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the Novo Nordisk Foundation and Lundbeck Foundation, both of which partially funded the study.