Short-term Neuropsychiatric Outcomes and Quality of Life in COVID-19 Survivors

ABSTRACT Background The general medical impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19) are increasingly appreciated. However, its impact on neurocognitive, psychiatric health and quality of life (QoL) in survivors after the acute phase is poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate neurocognitive function, psychiatric symptoms, and QoL in COVID-19 survivors shortly after hospital discharge. Methods This was a cross-sectional analysis of a prospective study of hospitalized COVID-19 survivors followed-up for 2 months after discharge. A battery of standardized instruments evaluating neurocognitive function, psychiatric morbidity, and QoL (mental and physical components) was administered by telephone. Findings Of the 229 screened patients, 179 were included in the final analysis. Among survivors, the prevalence of moderately impaired immediate verbal memory and learning was 38%, delayed verbal memory (11.8%), verbal fluency (34.6%), and working memory (executive function) (6.1%), respectively. Moreover, 58.7% of patients had neurocognitive impairment in at least one function. Rates of positive screening for anxiety were 29.6%, depression (26.8%), and post-traumatic stress disorder (25.1%) respectively. In addition, 39.1% of the patients had psychiatric morbidity. Low QoL for physical and mental components was detected in 44.1% and 39.1% of patients, respectively. Delirium and stress-related symptoms increased approximately 4-fold the odds of developing neurocognitive impairment. Female gender and neurocognitive impairment diagnosis were related with an increase of 2.5 and 4.56- fold odds respectively of psychiatric morbidity. Interpretation Hospitalized COVID-19 survivors showed a high prevalence of neurocognitive impairment, psychiatric morbidity, and poor QoL in the short-term. It is uncertain if these impacts persist over the long-term.