Severe COVID Impact Is Equivalent To 20 Years Of Cognitive Aging

People hospitalized for a severe case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had worse performance on a cognitive assessment administered about six months after discharge compared to a control group. Among the findings reported, COVID-19 survivors showed less accurate and slower response times compared to matched controls. Their performance worsened similar to cognitive losses of aging that take place between age 50 and 70.

Additionally, the COVID-19 survivors’ performances on task associations that required higher cognition and processing speed were qualitatively distinct from the profiles of normal aging; they were similar in magnitude to the effects of aging between . . .