Attentional impairment and altered brain activity in healthcare workers after mild COVID-19

A recent study published in Brain, Imaging and Behavior (01/02/24) studied the level of cognitive impairment following mild cases of COVID-19 in healthcare workers who are at high risk of infection.

Covid-19 is highly transmissible and pathogenic. Patients with mild cases account for the majority of those infected.  Although there is evidence that many patients with COVID-19 have varying degrees of attentional impairment, little is known about how Covid-19 affects attentional function.

This study included a high-risk healthcare population divided into groups of healthcare workers (HCWs) with mild COVID-19 (patient group, n = 45) and matched healthy HCWs controls (HC group, n = 42), who completed general neuropsychological background tests and Attention Network Test (ANT), and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) to assess altered brain activity; Selective impairment occurred in orienting and executive control networks, but not in alert network, in the patient group, and widespread cognitive impairment encompassing general attention, memory, and executive dysfunction. Moreover, the patient group had significantly lower ALFF values in the left superior and left middle frontal gyri than the HC group.

SARS-COV-2 infection may have led to reduced brain activity in the left superior and left middle frontal gyri, thus impairing attentional orienting and executive control networks, which may explain the development of attentional deficits after COVID-19.

The full study can be read here.