Post-COVID syndrome? COVID-19 survivors suffer from cognitive difficulties, somatic complaints and anxiety

Year 2022, Volume: 5 Issue: 5, 1328 - 1333, 25.09.2022

Uğur Eray , Başar Ayrıbaş , Ömer Furkan Çağlar , Turgut Hacıoğlu , Fatih Alibeyoğlu

https://doi.org/10.32322/jhsm.1108001

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Aim: Although primarily known as a respiratory system pathology, COVID-19 may cause various systems and cause serious complications including neuropsychiatric problems. These complications may be formulized as post-COVID syndrome. The current study aims to investigate prolonged cognitive, somatic and psychiatric effects of COVID-19.
Material and Method: A total number of 120 COVID-19 survivors were compared with 120 health controls in means of three measures, which are Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ), Body Sensations Questionnaire (BSQ), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to assess cognitive difficulties, body perceptions and anxiety/depression.
Results: Our findings show that COVID-19 survivors have reported significantly more cognitive difficulties, increased body sensations and higher levels of anxiety. The groups did not differ in means of depression scores. Further, the measures were significantly correlated with each other.
Conclusion: This study reveal that COVID-19 survivors suffer from significant cognitive deficits in everyday activities, are significantly more sensitive to various body sensations and have increased anxiety levels. In discordance with the current literature, our findings showed that COVID-19 patients are not more depressed than healthy subjects. In summary, the current study showed that various neuropsychiatric complications may be an important part of prolonged effects of COVID-19.

Keywords

COVID-19, Neuropsychiatry, Post-COVID Syndrome, Cognitive Deficits

References

• Harapan H, Itoh N, Yufika A, et al. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a literature review. Journal of Infection and Public Health. Elsevier Ltd 2020; 13: 667–73.
• Cucinotta D, Vanelli M. WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic. Acta Biomedica. Mattioli 1885 2020; 91: 157–60.
• Wiersinga WJ, Rhodes A, Cheng AC, Peacock SJ, Prescott HC. Pathophysiology, transmission, diagnosis, and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a review. JAMA 2020; 324: 782–93.
• Humer E, Stippl P, Pieh C, Pryss R, Probst T. Experiences of psychotherapists with remote psychotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional web-based survey study. J Med Internet Res 2020: e20246.
• Li J, Huang DQ, Zou B, et al. Epidemiology of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes. J Med Virol 2021; 93: 1449–58.
• Long B, Brady WJ, Koyfman A, Gottlieb M. Cardiovascular complications in COVID-19. Am J Emerg Med 2020; 38: 1504–7.
• Sheraton M, Deo N, Kashyap R, Surani S. A review of neurological complications of COVID-19. Cureus 2020; 12: 5
• Kumar S, Veldhuis A, Malhotra T. Neuropsychiatric and cognitive sequelae of COVID-19. Front Psychol 2021; 12: 577529.
• Sheng B, Cheng SKW, Kwok KL, Ho LL, Chan ELY. The effects of disease severity, use of corticosteroids and social factors on neuropsychiatric complaints in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients at acute and convalescent phases. Eur Psychiatry 2005; 20: 236–42.
• Sommer IE, Bakker PR. What can psychiatrists learn from SARS and MERS outbreaks? The Lancet Psychiatry. Elsevier 2020; 7: 565–6.
• Bohmwald K, Gálvez NMS, Ríos M, Kalergis AM. Neurologic alterations due to respiratory virus infections . Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. Frontiers Media S.A 2018; 12: 386.
• Zhou H, Lu S, Chen J. et al. The landscape of cognitive function in recovered COVID-19 patients. J Psychiatr Res 2020; 129: 98–102.
• Iodice F, Cassano V, Rossini PM. Direct and indirect neurological, cognitive, and behavioral effects of COVID-19 on the healthy elderly, mild-cognitive-impairment, and Alzheimer’s disease populations. Neurological Sciences Springer-Verlag Italia 2021; 42: 455–65.
• Mehta P, McAuley DF, Brown M, Sanchez E, Tattersall RS, Manson JJ. COVID-19: consider cytokine storm syndromes and immunosuppression, Lancet 2020; 395: 1033–4.
• Helms J, Kremer S, Merdji H, et al. Neurologic features in severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. N Engl J Med 2020; 382: 2268–70.
• Kira IA, Shuwiekh HAM, Rice KG, et al. Measuring COVID-19 as traumatic stress: initial psychometrics and validation. J Loss Trauma 2020; 26: 1–18.
• Usher K, Bhullar N, Jackson D. Life in the pandemic: Social isolation and mental health. J Clin Nurs 2020; 29: 2756–7.
• Dasdemir GI, Çelikhisar H, Alp SİA. Sleep quality and social support in people over 65 years old who have had a quarantine process due to covid-19. J Health Sci Med 2021; 4: 103-8.
• Özdin S, Bayrak Özdin Ş. Levels and predictors of anxiety, depression and health anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish society: the importance of gender. Int J Soc Psychiatry 2020; 66: 504–11.
• Chopra V, Flanders SA, O’Malley M, Malani AN, Prescott HC. Sixty-day outcomes among patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Ann Intern Med 2021; 174: 576–8.
• Hellmuth J, Barnett TA, Asken BM, et al. Persistent COVID-19-associated neurocognitive symptoms in non-hospitalized patients. J Neurovirol 2021; 1: 3.
• Mazza MG, De Lorenzo R, Conte C, et al. Anxiety and depression in COVID-19 survivors: role of inflammatory and clinical predictors. Brain Behav Immun 2020; 89: 594–600.
• Nalbandian A, Sehgal K, Gupta A, et al. Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome. Nat Med Nature Res 2021; 27: 601–15.
• Oronsky B, Larson C, Hammond TC, et al. A review of persistent post-COVID syndrome (PPCS). Clin Rev Allerg Immunol 2021; 1: 3.
• Broadbent DE, Cooper PF, FitzGerald P, Parkes KR. The cognitive failures questionnaire (CFQ) and its correlates. Br J Clin Psychol 1982; 21: 1–16.
• Ekici G, Atasavun Uysal S, Altuntas O. The validity and reliability of cognitive failures questionnaire in university students. Fiz Rehabil 2016; 27: 55–60.
• Chambless DL, Caputo GC, Bright P, Gallagher R. Assessment of fear of fear in agoraphobics: The Body Sensations Questionnaire and the Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire. J Consult Clin Psychol 1984; 52: 1090–7.
• Kart A, Turkcapar MH. Adaptation, validity and reliability of the Body Sensations Questionnaire Turkish version. JCBPR 2014; 3: 18–22.
• Spinhoven P, Ormel J, Sloekers PPA, Kempen GIJM, Speckens AEM, Van Hemert AM. A validation study of the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) in different groups of Dutch subjects. Psychol Med 1997; 27: 363–70.
• AYDEMIR, O. Hastane Anksiyete ve Depresyon Olcegi Turkce Formu'nun geçerlilik ve güvenilirliği. Turk Psikiyatr Derg 1997; 8: 187–280.
• Ritchie K, Chan D. The emergence of cognitive COVID. World Psychiatry. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2021; 20: 52–3.
• Whitehouse CE, Fisk JD, Bernstein CN, et al. Comorbid anxiety, depression, and cognition in MS and other immune-mediated disorders. Neurology 2019; 92: 406-17.
• Oláh C, Kardos Z, Andrejkovics M, et al. Assessment of cognitive function in female rheumatoid arthritis patients: associations with cerebrovascular pathology, depression and anxiety. Rheumatol Int 2020; 40: 529–40.
• Reynolds GO, Hanna KK, Neargarder S, Cronin-Golomb A. The relation of anxiety and cognition in Parkinson’s disease. Neuropsychology 2017; 31: 596–604.
• Graham EL, Clark JR, Orban ZS, et al. Persistent neurologic symptoms and cognitive dysfunction in non-hospitalized COVID-19 “long haulers.” Ann Clin Transl Neurol 2021; 8: 1073–85.
• Vindegaard N, Benros ME. COVID-19 pandemic and mental health consequences: Systematic review of the current evidence. Brain Behav Immun 2020; 89: 531–42.
• Woud ML, Zhang XC, Becker ES, Zlomuzica A, Margraf J. Catastrophizing misinterpretations predict somatoform-related symptoms and new onsets of somatoform disorders. J Psychosom Res 2016; 81: 31–7.
• Mourad G, Jaarsma T, Strömberg A, Svensson E, Johansson P. The associations between psychological distress and healthcare use in patients with non-cardiac chest pain: does a history of cardiac disease matter? BMC Psychiatry 2018; 18: 1–10.