Cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms in severe COVID‐19 elderly survivors: Preliminary results from 1‐year follow‐up assessment

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundStudies have pointed towards the presence of neuropsychiatric sequelae after COVID‐19 infection, yet in the midst of the biggest health threat of this generation there are relatively few long‐term studies which have endeavored to identify such complications, known to have a negative impact on quality of life. In this context, this study aims to identify cognitive impairment (CI) and depressive symptoms in severe COVID‐19 elderly survivors, 1‐year after hospital discharge and also to analyse the association between CI and depressive symptoms.MethodThis study is part of the longitudinal MAPA project still ongoing at a University Hospital in Porto, Portugal. Patients with >60 y.o., admitted into Intensive Care Medicine Department (ICMD), due to COVID‐19 (1st wave), were included. Exclusion criteria were: ICMD length of stay ≤24h, terminal illness, major auditory loss or inability to communicate at the follow‐up assessment. Participants were evaluated 1‐year after hospital discharge, with a research protocol, which includes Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ‐9; depressive symptoms) and Six Item Cognitive Impairment Test (6CIT; CI).ResultThirty‐eight patients were included (median age = 71years). Mostly were male (66%), married (66%) and with low education (58% = 0‐4years). About 53% had previous psychiatric history (none had clinical registry of CI or dementia). Most patients (71%) needed deep sedation and invasive mechanical ventilation (71%). CI and depressive symptoms were observed in 18.4% of the sample, for both. Patients with depression had more CI (42.9%vs12.9%), however this difference was not statistically significant.ConclusionThese findings showed that an important proportion of severe COVID‐19 elderly survivors suffers from depressive symptoms and CI, 1‐year post‐discharge, which are in line with other studies. These results underline the need to better clarify the long‐term relationship between depression and CI in severe COVID‐19 survivors.