COVID-19 and cognitive function

A number of cognitive symptoms have been seen in the context of COVID-19, including confusion, “brain fog”, and impaired memory, concentration and attention. Many people have also noticed changes in their mood, levels of tiredness and normal work and social activities. We are looking to increase our understanding of ways in which COVID-19 affects the brain – both during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and in those with ongoing symptoms related to COVID-19 (long COVID).

Working with colleagues at Imperial College London, we invited CSS Biobank participants to complete a series of online tasks to look at various aspects of cognitive function, such as memory, attention, reaction time and pattern recognition, and to complete questionnaires related to mood, levels of fatigue and work and social activities. The study information sheet is here.

What did we find?

The participants whose test scores were most affected by COVID-19 were those who had experienced symptoms related to the virus for 12 weeks or more. In these people, the effect of COVID-19 on test accuracy was comparable in size to the effect of a 10-year increase in age.

There was no significant improvement in these test scores between the two rounds of testing, which took place nine months apart. By the second round of testing, the average time since participants’ initial COVID-19 infection was almost two years.

The study is published here, and the press release, which summarises the findings, is here.