Depression, anxiety, tiredness, but even memory problems and a lower IQ: this is the heavy legacy that Covid-19 has left can leave, even 2-3 years after infection and hospitalization, according to a new study published in ‘Lancet Psychiatry’. Conducted by a group of researchers across the United Kingdom, led by the Universities of Oxford and Leicester, the work highlights the persistent and significant nature of cognitive and psychiatric disturbancesas well as the emergence of new symptoms years after infection.
Research
The research was conducted on 475 participants, who had been hospitalized during the first wave of the pandemic, who were asked to complete a series of cognitive tests via their computer and to report the presence of depression, anxiety, tiredness and the subjective perception of memory problems. They were also asked if they had changed profession and why.
Symptoms
The results showed that two or three years after being infected with Covid-19, participants on average scored significantly lower on tests of attention and memory: in practice, they lost, on average, 10 points of IQ. In addition, a substantial proportion reported severe symptoms of depression (about 1 in 5 people), anxiety (1 in 8), fatigue (1 in 4), and memory problems (1 in 4), which worsened over time. Although many had these symptoms 6 months after infection, some also experienced problems 2 or 3 years after infection that they had not experienced before. This suggests that early symptoms – the scientists highlight – may be predictive of later, more serious disorders, underlining the importance of timely management. And that’s not all. More than one in four participants reported having changed professions, and many cited cognitive deficits as the reason. more than the depression or anxiety experienced after the illness.
“These findings help us understand the burden of brain symptoms experienced by people years after hospitalisation for Covid-19, who are most at risk of long-term consequences, and their impact on their ability to work,” explains Maxime Taquet, senior lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford, who led the study. “This is important for policymakers and clinicians and helps guide preventative interventions.”
“Understanding the long-term cognitive and psychiatric consequences of hospitalisation for Covid-19 is important for many people, both patients and healthcare workers,” said Paul Harrison, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. “We hope these findings will stimulate further research into developing effective interventions to help prevent and treat these brain-related consequences of Covid-19.”
The degree of recovery at six months after infection is a strong predictor of long-term psychiatric and cognitive outcomes: Intervening early to manage symptoms could prevent the development of more complex syndromes and improve overall recovery, researchers recommend.
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