Scientists at Northwestern Medicine and the School of Medicine at CES University and the CES Clinic in Columbia have found that more than 60% of people infected with COVID-19 have neurological symptoms that affect their cognitive function and quality of life, even two and three years after COVID-19.

This finding is the result of a study with the longest follow-up period conducted in Latin America and led by Dr. Igor J. Koralnik, chief of the Division of Neuroinfectious Diseases and Global Neurology at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University, and Dr. Carolina Hurtado Montoya of the School of Medicine of CES University in Medellín.

This study, the first in Colombia and Latin America to analyze persistent neurological symptoms, cognitive functions and quality of life in patients with Long-COVID-19, shows that the neurological manifestations of Long-COVID are as common in Colombia as in the United States.

The process

Between April 2023 and December 2023, researchers studied the long-term effects of COVID-19 in a group of 100 Colombian patients, including 50 people with an average age of 51 who had moderate or severe disease and were hospitalized at the CES clinic in Medellín. The other group of 50 patients were not hospitalized, had a mild form of COVID-19 and were an average age of 36 years.

Key findings include that 60% of patients had symptoms of “brain fog,” characterized by cognitive dysfunction, and 74% suffered from fatigue. These two symptoms, along with depression, most impacted quality of life and cognitive function, both in the group of patients hospitalized during the acute infection (moderate and severe COVID-19) and in people with mild COVID-19.

These results were published on August 13 in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. The research group is currently working on the final details for the start of a second phase of the study, which will focus on cognitive rehabilitation to improve the functionality and quality of life of these patients. From this new project, the researchers expect to adapt and test a protocol that can later be implemented as a service at the IPS Universidad CES in Sabaneta, Antioquia, Colombia.

The numbers

The most common neurological symptoms in patients with Long COVID-19 were brain fog in 60% of patients, muscle pain in 42%, and numbness or tingling in 41%. Non-neurological symptoms were fatigue (74%), sleep problems (46%), and anxiety (44%).

Both patient groups also performed worse than the general population in terms of processing speed and attention, the study says.

“‘Brain fog’ and fatigue persisted regardless of the duration of Long COVID, underscoring the need for comprehensive and long-term care for those affected by this disease,” the authors write.

Notes

Medical students, physicians, neurology residents, neurologists and researchers from CES University and CES Clinic also participated in this analysis: Diego Fernando Rojas-Gualdrón, Esteban Villegas Arbeláez, Salvador Ernesto Medina Mantilla, Mariana Campuzano-Sierra, Santiago Ospina-Patiño, Mariana Arroyave -Bustamante, Valeria Uribe-Vizcarra, Daniel Restrepo-Arbeláez, Paul Cardona, Julián Llano-Piedrahita, Santiago Vásquez-Builes, Esteban Agudelo-Quintero, Juliana Vélez-Arroyave, Sebastián Menges, as well as the team from Northwestern University, including Gina S. Pérez Giraldo, Millenia Jiménez, Janet Miller and Yina M. Quique.

This collaboration was initiated by Dr. Gina Perez Giraldo, who attended medical school at CES University in Medellin and received a Global Neurology Fellowship from the Havey Institute of Global Health at Northwestern.