Fatigue, Brain Fog, Anxiety Prevalent With Long COVID

TUESDAY, June 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Fatigue, brain fog, headache, anxiety, and sleep issues are the most prevalent symptoms among survivors with persistent symptoms after COVID-19 infection, according to a study published online June 10 in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences.

Leidys Gutierrez-Martinez, M.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues retrospectively collected data between February 2020 and May 2021 from 100 COVID-19 survivors with persistent symptoms, enrolled after a short inpatient stay or who had been outpatients never hospitalized. Thirteen patients without confirmatory positive polymerase chain reaction or antibody diagnostic test results were grouped separately.

The researchers found that fatigue, brain fog, headache, anxiety, and sleep issues were the most prevalent symptoms after COVID-19 infection. Impairments in attention and executive function were frequently observed. The mean score was 26.0 for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Significant correlations were seen for concentration and attention, as well as memory issues, with brain fog.

"These preliminary findings suggest that postacute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 varies in frequency and duration according to premorbid history and affects functional domains and the ability to return to work," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.

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