Objectives To report findings on brain MRI and neurocognitive function, as well as persisting fatigue at long-term follow-up after COVID-19 hospitalisation in patients identified as high risk for affection of the central nervous system. Design Ambidirectional observational cohort study. Setting All 734 patients from a regional population in Sweden with a laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis admitted to hospital during the period 1 March to 31 May 2020. Participants A subgroup (n=185) with persisting symptoms still interfering with daily life at a telephone follow-up 4 months after discharge were invited for a medical and neuropsychological evaluation. Thirty-five of those who were assessed with a neurocognitive test battery at the clinical visit, and presented a clinical picture concerning for COVID-19-related brain pathology, were further investigated by brain MRI. Main outcome measures Findings on brain MRI, neurocognitive test results and reported fatigue. Results Twenty-five patients (71%) had abnormalities on MRI; multiple white matter lesions were the most common finding. Sixteen patients (46%) demonstrated impaired neurocognitive function, of which 10 (29%) had severe impairment. Twenty-six patients (74%) reported clinically significant fatigue. Patients with abnormalities on MRI had a lower Visuospatial Index (p=0.031) compared with the group with normal MRI findings. Conclusions In this group of patients selected to undergo MRI after a clinical evaluation, a majority of patients had abnormal MRI and/or neurocognitive test results. Abnormal findings were not restricted to patients with severe disease.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, magnetic resonance imaging, rehabilitation medicine, 【초록키워드】 pathology, fatigue, hospital, Symptom, discharge, Brain, MRI, clinical evaluation, clinical picture, Patient, COVID-19 diagnosis, Central nervous system, Follow-up, severe disease, Long-term follow-up, high risk, lesion, index, Observational cohort study, outcome measure, participant, finding, impairment, abnormality, laboratory-confirmed, COVID-19 hospitalisation, objective, setting, Result, selected, reported, investigated, clinically, undergo, majority, demonstrated, concerning, were assessed, 【제목키워드】 Long-term follow-up, brain MRI, Observational cohort study,