By Dr. Chinta SidharthanMay 14 2024Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLM In a recent study published in The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, a team of researchers from China and the Netherlands used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging or rs-fMRI to examine the long-term impact of coronavirus disease 2019 on brain function, based on reports of persistent neurological, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms in individuals recovering from the disease.
Studies have confirmed deficits in specific domains of cognition as long-term impacts of SARS-CoV-2 infections. The study included adults between the ages of 18 and 65 and included individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, as well as healthy controls. The Cognitive Failures Questionnaire was employed to assess cognitive function, and tasks assessing memory recall were used to evaluate working memory.
Furthermore, the two COVID-19 survivor groups and the healthy control groups had similar scores in the Montreal Cognitive Assessment questionnaire, as well as the working memory assessment and simple reaction time tasks.