The BMJ published a “Practice Pointer” (01/02/2024) which gives advice to medical professionals on how to deal with patients experiencing cognitive dysfunction following a Covid-19 infection. The paper draws on two sources: a literature search of PubMed conducted using the terms “post-acute covid-19”, and “long covid” and multiple terms relating to impaired cognition; and group discussions with front line clinicians and patient partners who are members of a national quality improvement collaborative for long covid clinics in UK.
The main pointers on what professionals need to know when dealing with cognitive dysfunction are:
Cognitive problems are common after acute Covid-19 infections and can be disabling and frightening
Symptoms tend to improve, but this may take up to a year. Those with chronically persistent symptoms lasting more than 12 months have a lower chance of improving
Symptoms usually fluctuate
Assessment should be directed to documenting the nature and trajectory of the impairment and excluding alternative diagnoses
Self-management techniques may help patients manage their condition
The full resource can be read here.
Durham County Department of Public Health have produced a great video demonstrating that covid and many other viruses are airborne. The video is less than two minutes long. An airborne virus is a virus that can infect other people through particles in the air, sometimes for hours after the sick person has left the area! […]
This narrative review shows that POTS, ME/CFS and Long COVID are closely related conditions that share common biological mechanisms. The authors explain that problems with the autonomic nervous system, immune dysregulation and autoimmunity, mitochondrial dysfunction, reduced blood flow to the brain, and neuroinflammation all play a role. POTS and ME/CFS are identified as the most […]
Summary: Comparing Long Covid symptoms between patients that received COVID-19 vaccinations and those that did not. Study by Pasculli et. al., (2025) summarised by Amanda Harrington-Vail Introduction Since the COVID-19 pandemic was officially declared, almost 780 million cases and nearly 7 million deaths have been reported worldwide. Although COVID-19 vaccination has reduced the risk of […]
