Mild cognitive impairment in COVID-19 survivors: Measuring the brain fog

Abstract

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been impacting individuals throughout the world. Millions have been affected, and while many have recovered, a growing number of recovered COVID-19 patients are reportedly facing neurological symptoms, described as “slow thinking,” “difficulty in focusing,” “confusion,” “lack of concentration,” “forgetfulness,” or “haziness in thought process.” These experiences of mental fatigue, associated with and related to mild cognitive impairments, may be conceptually defined as “brain fog.”

Objective

To study the prevalence and severity of these brain fog symptoms in COVID-19 recovered patients, and examining their association with age, gender, and COVID-19 symptom severity.

Methods

A total of 300 patients who tested positive for Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase–Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) for SARSCoV-2 during April–August 2020 were included in our study after complete recovery from their acute illness. They were assessed for brain fog symptoms using the 9-item validated Wood’s mental fatigue inventory.

Results/Conclusions

The overall cumulative prevalence of any components of brain fog was 34%, with a mean score of 6.11 ± 1.7 in those who experienced it. Males were more affected than females (42.3% vs. 29.1%) with males scoring higher than females. The mean score was higher in severe ill and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients and those who required oxygen or were on a ventilator.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• brain fog
• cognitive impairment
• mental fatigue
• COVID-19 recovered

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge our sincere thanks to the institution, which provides us with a large platform to work on, our patients, whom we see and learn from, our families, and colleagues, who selflessly support our endeavors. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

All authors had access to the data and had a role in writing the manuscript.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Dr. Vaibhav Mathur, upon reasonable request.