Browsing by Author "Miettinen, Heidi"

Objective: Preliminary evidence has shown that COVID-19-disease can be associated with memory problems, but previous research is still limited and contains many methodological issues. The aim of this research was to investigate whether COVID-19-disease associates with memory functions. Moreover, this study compared possible differences in memory functioning six months after the acute illness between COVID-19-patiences who had required intensive care (ICU), were treated in regular inpatient ward, or recovered at home. Methods: This study is part of RECOVID-20-project. It includes 164 COVID-19-patients and 48 healthy controls who participated in a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment six months after the acute illness. Assessment variables contains neuropsychological subtests which measure different aspects of memory (logical memory I & 2, word list 1 & 2, digit span and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure). COVID19-patiens were divided into three groups according to the required level of hospital care in acute phase of illness. The three groups were: ICU (n=71), ward (n=49) and home group (N=44). Associations between COVID-19-disease and memory functions were analyzed using covariance analysis and multivariate covariance analysis. Group differences in memory functions were assessed with MANCOVA and further with Discriminatory Analysis. Results and conclusions: No significant differences were found in any memory aspects between COVID-19- patients and healthy controls. Results are partly in conflict with previous studies which have shown that COVID-19-disease can be associated with memory problems especially in aspects of working memory, short- and long-term auditory memory and long-term visual memory. However, this study indicated that ICU and ward group with severe or critical COVID-19-disease had significantly worse overall memory performance than patients who had recovered at home. Age affected different ways of memory functioning in different groups.