46 Visuospatial Functions in Patients After COVID-19 Disease

Abstract

Objective:

“Brain fog” is one of the most common consequences of developing COVID-19. The available research focuses mainly on the decline in overall cognitive performance. Much less papers refers to the evaluation of particular cognitive domains, and when it does, it focuses particularly on attention and memory disorders. The available data on the effects of COVID-19 infection on visuospatial functions is sparse, so the aim of this study was to investigate the level of visuospatial functioning in adults who have a history of COVID-19 infection. It was also intended to explore whether there is a protective effect of vaccination on the cognitive functioning after COVID-19.

Participants and Methods:

The group included sixty volunteers (age: M = 40.12, SD = 16.78; education: M = 12.95 SD = 2.25; sex: M = 20, F = 40) - thirty seven with a history of COVID-19 and twenty three who were never infected with SARS-COV-2. Of those with a history of COVID-19, twenty-four were vaccinated at the time of the disease, and thirteen were not. Subjects from individual groups did not differ demographically. Participants were examined with a set of neuropsychological tests to assess: a) general cognitive functioning - Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), b) attention - d2 Test of Attention, memory - Rey-Osterieth Complex Figure - delayed recall, and c) visuospatial functions - Rey-Osterieth Complex Figure - copy, Block Design - subtest of WAIS-R and three experimental tasks consisting of: incomplete pictures, rotating puzzles, counting cubes in a 3D tower.

Results:

Subjects who had a history of COVID-19 achieved significantly lower scores in the MoCA test (p = 0.033) compared to those who did not suffer from COVID-19. They also needed more time in mental rotation task (p = 0,04). Statistically significant differences were also found in the d2 Test of Attention GP score (p = 0.001). Moreover, in group of adults who had a history of COVID-19, statistically significant differences were found between the vaccinated and unvaccinated subjects. It turned out that those who were vaccinated during their illness performed significantly better than those who were unvaccinated in the following cognitive domains: attention (d2 Test of Attention) and visuospatial functions (Rey-Osterieth Complex Figure test - copy, Block Design from WAIS-R, as well as experimental trials: incomplete pictures, rotating puzzles, counting cubes).

Conclusions:

Among adults who have been infected with COVID-19, there is a decrease in general cognitive performance, but also in individual cognitive abilities, including visuospatial functions. Vaccination significantly reduces the risk of cognitive impairment.