Long COVID neuropsychological deficits after severe, moderate or mild infection

ABSTRACT Background There is growing awareness that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can include long-term neuropsychological deficits, even in its mild or moderate respiratory forms. Methods Standardized neuropsychological, psychiatric, neurological and olfactory tests were administered to 45 patients (categorized according to the severity of their respiratory symptoms during the acute phase) 236.51 ± 22.54 days post-discharge following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results Deficits were found in all the domains of cognition and the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms was also high in the three groups. The severe performed more poorly on long-term episodic memory and exhibited greater anosognosia. The moderate had poorer emotion recognition, which was positively correlated with persistent olfactory dysfunction. The mild were more stressed, anxious and depressed. Conclusion The data support the hypothesis that the virus targets the central nervous system (and notably the limbic system), and support the notion of different neuropsychological phenotypes.