Long-term neurocognitive and psychiatric consequences of COVID-19 remain mostly unknown to date. It has been reported that coronaviruses cause direct central nervous system infection (Needham et al. 2020). Besides that, new or worsening cognitive impairment commonly occurs and persists in survivors of intensive care unit (ICU) stay (Hosey & Needham. 2020). The purpose of our study is to search and describe the cognitive and psychiatric long-term consequences of COVID-19 on patients who have been discharged from critical care units. This is an ambidirectional cohort study, that attempts to follow adults discharged from critical Care Units Adults due to COVID-19 up to 12 months after discharge, to evaluate the presence of cognitive impairment, linguistic and phonation function, depression, fatigue, functional gastroenterological symptoms, anxiety, or post traumatic disorder, and performance in activities of daily living and physical response to exercise as well.
This is an ambidirectional cohort study. Hypothesis: Severe versus mild COVID-19 status is associated with sustained long term cognitive impairment. Setting: Critical Care Units of Hospital Clínico Red UC Christus, a teaching hospital located in Santiago, Chile. Inclusion criteria: Adults hospitalized due to COVID-19 discharged between June and October 2020, by our Proactive Consultation Liaison Team (PC-L) ussing Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) among other scales before discharge. Exclusion criteria: Patients with known diagnosis of cognitive or psychotic disorder before admission. Follow up: Ten to twelve months after hospital discharge. Outcomes: to evaluate the presence of cognitive impairment, depression, anxiety or post traumatic disorder, and performance in activities of daily living and physical response to exercise as well. Assessments: Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), MOCA, Heidelberg Neurological Soft Signs Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Patient Health Questionary-2 (PHQ-2), Post Traumatic Checklist for DSM-5, Barthel Index (BI) and 6 minutes- walk test.
Biological: Exposure: COVID-19 severity
COVID-19 severity between 4 to 7 points according the seven-category scale of clinical status reported by Huang et al. (2021) and severe to critical symptomatic levels on spectrum of disease reported by Wu and McGoogan (2020).
Inclusion Criteria:
- Adults over 18 years of age who have been hospitalized at critical care units, who
were admitted for a diagnosis of COVID-19 and who present a score on the MOCA®
cognitive test of less than 26 points at the time of hospital discharge .
Exclusion Criteria:
- History of underlying cognitive disorder. History of underlying primary psychotic
disorder. MOCA® cognitive test score greater than or equal to 26 points at the time of
hospital discharge.
Centro de Investigaciones Médicas, Centro de Investigación Clínica UC, Hospital Clínico UC, San Carlos de Apoquindo, Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Escuela de Medicina, Red UC-Christus, Campus Clínico San JoaPontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Santiago, Chile
Investigator: Constanza Caneo, MD
Contact: +56942909250
cmcaneo@uc.cl
Investigator:
Constanza Caneo, MD
+56942909250
cmcaneo@uc.cl
Carolina Mendez, PhD
+56 942595693
carolinamendez@uc.cl