COVID-19 may Enduringly Impact cognitive performance and brain haemodynamics in undergraduate students

Ronan McNeill; Rebekah Marshall; Shenelle Anne Fernando; Olivia Harrison; Liana Machado

doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2024.12.002

COVID-19 may Enduringly Impact cognitive performance and brain haemodynamics in undergraduate students

Brain Behav Immun. 2024 Dec 19:S0889-1591(24)00731-1. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2024.12.002. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ronan McNeill¹, Rebekah Marshall¹, Shenelle Anne Fernando¹, Olivia Harrison², Liana Machado³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, and Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, William James Building, 275 Leith Walk, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
² Department of Psychology, and Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, William James Building, 275 Leith Walk, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand; Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Translational Neuromodeling Unit, University of Zurich and ETHZ Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
³ Department of Psychology, and Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, William James Building, 275 Leith Walk, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. Electronic address: liana@psy.otago.ac.nz.

PMID: 39709062
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2024.12.002

Abstract

To date, 770 million people worldwide have contracted COVID-19, with many reporting long-term "brain fog". Concerningly, young adults are both overrepresented in COVID-19 infection rates and may be especially vulnerable to prolonged cognitive impairments following infection. This calls for focused research on this population to better understand the mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment post-COVID-19. Addressing gaps in the literature, the current study investigated differences in neuropsychological performance and cerebral haemodynamic activity following COVID-19 infection in undergraduate students. 94 undergraduates (age in years: M = 20.58, SD = 3.33, range = 18 to 46; 89 % female) at the University of Otago reported their COVID-19 infection history before completing a neuropsychological battery while wearing a multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) device to record prefrontal haemodynamics. We observed that 40 % retrospectively self-reported cognitive impairment (brain fog) due to COVID-19 and 37 % exhibited objective evidence of cognitive impairment (assessed via computerised testing), with some suggestion that executive functioning may have been particularly affected; however, group-level analyses indicated preserved cognitive performance post COVID-19, which may in part reflect varying compensatory abilities. The NIRS data revealed novel evidence that previously infected students exhibited distinct prefrontal haemodynamic patterns during cognitive engagement, reminiscent of those observed in adults four decades older, and this appeared to be especially true if they reported experiencing brain fog due to COVID-19. These results provide new insights into the potential neuropathogenic mechanisms influencing cognitive impairment following COVID-19.

Keywords: Brain Fog; Cognition; Cognitive Functioning; Haemodynamic Response; Long COVID; NIRS; Post-COVID; SARS-CoV-2; Young Adults.