Cognition and Memory after Covid-19 in a Large Community Sample, 2024, Hampshire et al.

This thread includes some moved posts

Newsnight today 28th Feb- approx 10.45-55pm, introduced by Victoria Derbyshire

Study on cognitive impairment/ brain fog and IQ after long covid. A scientist from the study ( sorry I didn't catch the name of the author or his institution) and a ?scientist with long covid suffering from brain fog who had been unemployed for 4 years, were interviewed by Victoria Derbyshire.

From a very brain fogged memory that was not initially properly listening, a statement was made that IQ drops by 3 points in those who have had covid for less than 12 weeks rising to 9 in those who had been hospitalised with covid. This was particularly noticeable in those who had had covid early.

I kept longing for there to be a reference to ME and the study scientist was asked by Victoria if this effect was found in other illnesses but ME was not mentioned at all. The patient did say she had PEM as well as brain fog - it seemed that she might fit criteria for ME. Very frustrated that there was no reference to ME. How did they not know that these symptoms were not new? I couldn't help but think that she would be doing GET if it hadn't been for ME advocates.

It then moved on to the need for clinics, treatments etc.

edit:Study was by a neuro scientist at Imperial with over 100,000 participants.

 

I saw it, it was for me a combination of disappointing, frustrating, infuriating and of course very worrying.

For medical professionals to equate my cognitive issues with the word 'slight' or a 3 point drop in IQ is ridiculous, and very concerning given that these are the very 'experts' whose opinions may be used to set policies referred to by official organisations I rely on for survival.

 

The full programme extract is available here:

 

Cognition and Memory after Covid-19 in a Large Community Sample
Adam Hampshire; Adriana Azor; Christina Atchison; William Trender; Peter J. Hellyer; Valentina Giunchiglia; Masud Husain; Graham S. Cooke; Emily Cooper; Adam Lound; Christl A. Donnelly; Marc Chadeau-Hyam; Helen Ward; Paul Elliott

BACKGROUND
Cognitive symptoms after coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), are well-recognized. Whether objectively measurable cognitive deficits exist and how long they persist are unclear.

METHODS
We invited 800,000 adults in a study in England to complete an online assessment of cognitive function. We estimated a global cognitive score across eight tasks. We hypothesized that participants with persistent symptoms (lasting ≥12 weeks) after infection onset would have objectively measurable global cognitive deficits and that impairments in executive functioning and memory would be observed in such participants, especially in those who reported recent poor memory or difficulty thinking or concentrating (“brain fog”).

RESULTS
Of the 141,583 participants who started the online cognitive assessment, 112,964 completed it. In a multiple regression analysis, participants who had recovered from Covid-19 in whom symptoms had resolved in less than 4 weeks or at least 12 weeks had similar small deficits in global cognition as compared with those in the no–Covid-19 group, who had not been infected with SARS-CoV-2 or had unconfirmed infection (−0.23 SD [95% confidence interval {CI}, −0.33 to −0.13] and −0.24 SD [95% CI, −0.36 to −0.12], respectively); larger deficits as compared with the no–Covid-19 group were seen in participants with unresolved persistent symptoms (−0.42 SD; 95% CI, −0.53 to −0.31). Larger deficits were seen in participants who had SARS-CoV-2 infection during periods in which the original virus or the B.1.1.7 variant was predominant than in those infected with later variants (e.g., −0.17 SD for the B.1.1.7 variant vs. the B.1.1.529 variant; 95% CI, −0.20 to −0.13) and in participants who had been hospitalized than in those who had not been hospitalized (e.g., intensive care unit admission, −0.35 SD; 95% CI, −0.49 to −0.20). Results of the analyses were similar to those of propensity-score–matching analyses. In a comparison of the group that had unresolved persistent symptoms with the no–Covid-19 group, memory, reasoning, and executive function tasks were associated with the largest deficits (−0.33 to −0.20 SD); these tasks correlated weakly with recent symptoms, including poor memory and brain fog. No adverse events were reported.

CONCLUSIONS
Participants with resolved persistent symptoms after Covid-19 had objectively measured cognitive function similar to that in participants with shorter-duration symptoms, although short-duration Covid-19 was still associated with small cognitive deficits after recovery. Longer-term persistence of cognitive deficits and any clinical implications remain uncertain.

Link | PDF (New England Journal of Medicine) [Open Access]

 

I was wandering which test they used to asses cognitive function. It was the same one used in Post-COVID cognitive deficits at one year are global and associated with elevated brain injury markers and grey matter volume reduction: national prospective study (that study Carson was part of)

It seems this "Cognitron battery" is a very new test that's only really been used in Covid related problems and TBI. Anybody can take the test themselves: https://www.cognitron.co.uk/.

 

I wouldn't trust the results of a neuropsychological test battery administered in such widely differing conditions. Maybe the LC group is the sickest and is lying in bed fiddling with it on a smartphone or tablet while the healthy functioning people are more likely to be sitting at a proper computer.

 

Two different tests on two different cohorts with two completely different methodologies. Does that tell us anything?

 

I've done that test, lying on a sofa with a laptop! It was achievable on a day when I felt relatively with-it and didn't have any other commitments. On a PEM day I couldn't have got halfway through it.

 

I watched on Newsnight and felt very frustrated that ME wasn't mentioned. Victoria Derbyshire even asked if this ( loss of cognitive capacity) had been found in other illnesses and Hampshire did not seem to know. There was no mention at all of ME.