Researchers have found that people who had experienced severe COVID-19 symptoms, including those who had recovered, scored lower on tests measuring a range of thinking skills.
The study, which has been published in The Lancet’s EClinicalMedicine, observed more than 80,000 people’s scores on an intelligence test and compared them with self-reports of COVID-19 infection.
The researchers found a relationship between cognitive performance and symptom severity, where those who had received mechanical ventilation in hospital for COVID-19 related breathing problems had the lowest scores on the test. The effect was observed in people who both had and had not been hospitalised.
Areas of thinking skills that were affected the most were reasoning and problem solving.
To access the full article, visit www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(21)00324-2/fulltext.
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