Long COVID: The impact on language and cognition

Abstract

COVID-19 continues to have profound health and economic consequences around the world. Aside from the large number of deaths from this viral infection, there is a growing population of individuals who have not made a good recovery from their COVID illnesses. These children and adults continue to experience COVID symptoms for months and even years after the onset of their illness. One group of symptoms that can be particularly troubling are language and cognitive difficulties. These difficulties can compromise learning and academic attainment and prevent a return to employment in adults. The author has examined the language skills of 110 adults who reported experiencing Long COVID. Among these individuals, 99 adults reported significant cognitive-linguistic difficulties as part of their ongoing COVID symptoms. This article examines these difficulties in detail. It proposes that these cognition-based language difficulties should be included in the class of cognitive-communication disorders. These disorders are typically assessed and treated by speech-language pathologists who manage communication difficulties in clients with traumatic brain injury, right-hemisphere damage, and neurodegeneration.