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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias
Volume 16 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1432357
This article is part of the Research Topic Cognition, Neurodegeneration and Immunity: from Observational Data to Molecular Mechanisms View all 5 articles

Age-dependent phenotypes of cognitive impairment as sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Provisionally accepted
Gabriel A. de Erausquin Gabriel A. de Erausquin 1*Gabriela Gonzalez Alemán Gabriela Gonzalez Alemán 2George D. Vavougios George D. Vavougios 3,4Maria Carmela Tartaglia Maria Carmela Tartaglia 5,6N.A. Uvais N.A. Uvais 7Alla Guekht Alla Guekht 8,9Akram A. Hosseini Akram A. Hosseini 10,11Vincenzina Lo Re Vincenzina Lo Re 12,13Catterina Ferreccio Catterina Ferreccio 14Giovanni D'Avossa Giovanni D'Avossa 15Hernan P Zamponi Hernan P Zamponi 16Mariana Figueredo Aguiar Mariana Figueredo Aguiar 17Agustin Yecora Agustin Yecora 16Mohammad Zia Ul Haq Katshu Mohammad Zia Ul Haq Katshu 18Vasileios T. Stavrou Vasileios T. Stavrou 3,4STYLIANOS BOUTLAS STYLIANOS BOUTLAS 4Konstantinos I Gourgoulianis Konstantinos I Gourgoulianis 4Camila Botero Camila Botero 2Francisco González Insúa Francisco González Insúa 2Santiago López López Llobet Santiago López López Llobet 19MIkhail Zinchuk MIkhail Zinchuk 8Anna Gersamija Anna Gersamija 8Sofya Popova Sofya Popova 8Yuliya Bryzgalova Yuliya Bryzgalova 8Ekaterina Sviatskaia Ekaterina Sviatskaia 8Giovanna Russelli Giovanna Russelli 12,13Federica Avorio Federica Avorio 12,13Sophia Wang Sophia Wang 20,21Paul Edison Paul Edison 22,23YOSHIKI NIIMI YOSHIKI NIIMI 24Hamid R. Sohrabi Hamid R. Sohrabi 25Elizabeta Blagoja Mukaetova-Ladinska Elizabeta Blagoja Mukaetova-Ladinska 26Daria Neidre Daria Neidre 1
  • 1 The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, United States
  • 2 Facultad de Psicología y Psicopedagogía, Universidad Católica Argentina, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 3 Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus
  • 4 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece
  • 5 Tanz Centre for Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • 6 Memory Clinic, Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network (UHN), Toronto, Canada
  • 7 IQRAA International Hospital and Research Centre, Kozhikode, Kerala, India
  • 8 Moscow Research and Clinical Center for Neuropsychiatry, Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russia
  • 9 Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russia
  • 10 Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 11 Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, England, United Kingdom
  • 12 Neurology Unit, Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and Highly Specialized Therapies (ISMETT), Palermo, Italy
  • 13 University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Palermo, Italy
  • 14 División de Salud Pública y Medicina Familiar, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile
  • 15 School of Psychology and Sport Science, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
  • 16 Secretariat for Mental Health and Addictions, Ministry of Health, Government of Jujuy, San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina
  • 17 San Lazaro Institute of Neurosciences, Foundation to Fight Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders in Minorities, San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina
  • 18 Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 19 Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 20 Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Indiana University Bloomington, Suite, United States
  • 21 Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center, School of Medicine, Indiana University Bloomington, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
  • 22 Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 23 Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
  • 24 Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tōkyō, Japan
  • 25 Centre for Healthy Ageing, Health Futures Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Australia
  • 26 University of Leicester, Leicester, East Midlands, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Cognitive changes associated with PASC may not be uniform across populations. We carried out individual-level pooled analyses and meta-analysis of cognitive assessments from 8 prospective cohorts including 2105 patients and 1432 controls from Argentina, Canada, Chile, Greece, India, Italy, Russia and the UK. Meta-analysis found no differences by country of origin. Profile and severity of cognitive impairment differed by age with mild attentional impairment in young and middle-aged adults, but memory, language and executive function impairment in older adults. Risk of moderate to severe impairment was doubled in older adults. Moderately severe or severe impairment was significantly associated with infection diagnoses (chi-square = 26.57, p-value =<0.0001) and with severity of anosmia (chi-square = 31.81, p-value =<0.0001). We found distinct age-related phenotypes of cognitive impairment in patients recovering from COVID-19 and identified severity of acute illness and presence of olfactory dysfunction were the primary predictors of dementia-like impairment in older adults.

    Keywords: COVID - 19, cognitive decline, International cohort, Age dependent, Long Covid

    Received: 13 May 2024; Accepted: 28 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 de Erausquin, Gonzalez Alemán, Vavougios, Tartaglia, Uvais, Guekht, Hosseini, Lo Re, Ferreccio, D'Avossa, Zamponi, Figueredo Aguiar, Yecora, Ul Haq Katshu, Stavrou, BOUTLAS, Gourgoulianis, Botero, González Insúa, López Llobet, Zinchuk, Gersamija, Popova, Bryzgalova, Sviatskaia, Russelli, Avorio, Wang, Edison, NIIMI, Sohrabi, Mukaetova-Ladinska and Neidre. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Gabriel A. de Erausquin, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, United States

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