What is this study about?
Cognitive impairment is increasingly recognised as a major component of long Covid, and is estimated to be present in 25-75% of affected individuals. This impairment impacts quality of life and the loss of functional ability has major consequences for affected people, their families and the wider economy given people’s difficulty in returning to work.
We propose a two-stage study for investigation and treatment of “cognitive Covid”.
Stage 1 will determine those aspects of cognitive function that are particularly affected in cognitive Covid and the severity of the impairment. We will also explore the relationship between cognitive impairment and other aspects of long Covid, namely fatigue, anxiety, depression and sleep disturbance. MRI scanning will be used to measure brain structure and connectivity, to identify the brain networks affected in cognitive Covid that may underpin the cognitive dysfunction.
Stage 2 will focus on helping people recover from cognitive Covid. This will involve use of rehabilitation strategies aimed at improving function in those cognitive functions identified in Stage 1 as being most affected, and assessing the benefit of rehabilitation on quality of life and people’s ability to return to everyday function. These strategies will be co-produced in collaboration with a group of people living with cognitive Covid. At the end of Stage 2 we will produce a freely available “Covid-19 Cognitive Recovery Guide” for affected people, their close contacts and clinicians.
Contact
Dr Dennis Chan Dennis.chan@ucl.ac.uk
Sponsor
University College London (UCL)
Funder
National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)