Correlation between inflammatory markers with cognitive function in coronavirus disease‐19 (COVID‐19) patients

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundCoronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) and remains an ongoing global pandemic. Although it mainly affects the respiratory system, its manifestation in other organs including nervous system has been increasingly recognized. Previous studies have shown the association between several inflammatory markers with disease severity and mortality in COVID‐19 patients but their association with cognitive function remains unclear. This study aimed to determine the correlation between inflammatory markers with cognitive function in COVID‐19 patients.MethodThis was a cross‐sectional study involving COVID‐19 patients during admission using consecutive sampling method in Adam Malik General Hospital Medan Indonesia. Cognitive function was assessed in several domains using Forward Digit Span (FDS), Backward Digit Span (BDS), and Trail Making Tests A and B (TMT‐A and TMT‐B), to assess attention, working memory and executive function, respectively. We measured neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR,) C‐reactive protein (CRP), D‐dimer, and ferritin serum levels as inflammatory markers.ResultThis study involved 40 COVID‐19 patients consisting of 13 (32.5%) males and 27 (67.5%) females, the median age value of the patients was 39.5(19‐65) years. We found that higher ferritin level was correlated with worse FDS and BDS scores (r = ‐0.365 p = 0.020 and r = ‐0.408 p = 0.009, respectively)and that d‐dimer level was significantly correlated with worse BDS score (r = ‐0.369 p = 0.019). Higher D‐dimer and ferritin levels were also significantly correlated with longer time of completion of TMT‐B (r = 0.363 p = 0.022 and r = 0.433 p = 0.005, respectively) and higher ferritin level was also correlated with longer time of completion of TMT‐A (r = 0.438 p = 0.005). There were no significant correlation between NLR and CRP level with cognitive function.ConclusionHigher inflammatory markers were correlated with attention, working memory and executive function in COVID‐19 patients.