Long-term Neurocognitive and Psychiatric Consequences in Severe COVID-19 Survivors.

Long-term Neurocognitive and Psychiatric Consequences of COVID-19 in Patients Discharged From Critical Care Units. A Cohort Study of the Advance Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Register (AIRR) Covid-19 Working Group.

Long-term neurocognitive and psychiatric consequences of COVID-19 remain mostly unknown to date. It has been reported that coronaviruses cause direct central nervous system infection (Needham et al. 2020). Besides that, new or worsening cognitive impairment commonly occurs and persists in survivors of intensive care unit (ICU) stay (Hosey & Needham. 2020). The purpose of our study is to search and describe the cognitive and psychiatric long-term consequences of COVID-19 on patients who have been discharged from critical care units. This is an ambidirectional cohort study, that attempts to follow adults discharged from critical Care Units Adults due to COVID-19 up to 12 months after discharge, to evaluate the presence of cognitive impairment, linguistic and phonation function, depression, fatigue, functional gastroenterological symptoms, anxiety, or post traumatic disorder, and performance in activities of daily living and physical response to exercise as well.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults over 18 years of age who have been hospitalized at critical care units, who were admitted for a diagnosis of COVID-19 and who present a score on the MOCA® cognitive test of less than 26 points at the time of hospital discharge .

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of underlying cognitive disorder. History of underlying primary psychotic disorder. MOCA® cognitive test score greater than or equal to 26 points at the time of hospital discharge.