Acute Respiratory Distress syndrome (ARDS) is a pulmonary systematic inflammatory response, leading to acute respiratory failure with hypoxia and/or hypercarbia. COVID-19 evokes a viral pneumonia, which may result in ARDS as well. It is not yet clear if COVID-19 disease behaves like the typical ARDS. Corona virus causes primarily deep hypoxia. Hypoxia, on its own, can lead to long term cognitive impairment. However, critical illness also affects long-term neurocognitive functioning. The investigators will be researching the possibility of long-term cognitive impairment in COVID-19 ICU patients, in comparison with reference values of a healthy population as well as the values measured in critically ill patients, admitted not only for respiratory reasons.
The investigators will conduct a single centre, prospective cohort study. COVID-19 patients
from the Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg cohort will be contacted by phone 6 months after admission
at the ICU. Patients will be asked to participate in a study surrounding long term symptoms
of COVID-19. When consent is given by the patiënt, the experimenter will conduct a short
questionnaire over the phone with the patient or relative that is present at the time of the
call. If the participant is fluent in Dutch, the experimenter will ask permission to visit
their home to conduct more testing.
Behavioral: Neurocognitive assessment
6 months after admission to the intensive care unit of Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, the patients will be tested on cognitive impairment
Inclusion Criteria:
- Admitted to the intensive care unit of Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg
- Being hospitalized between March 2020 and May 2020, and therefore being admitted 6
months prior to the study
- The reason of hospitalization was COVID-19 disease
Exclusion Criteria:
- No willingness to participate, and therefore not having signed the informed consent
Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg
Genk, Belgium
Dieter Mesotten, MD, Principal Investigator
Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg