The influence of physical fatigue on telephone-based neuropsychological test performance in COVID-19 survivors.

Abstract

Fatigue has been characterized as a post COVID-19 condition known to persist months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. COVID-19 has been reported to be associated with impaired cognitive function, including disorders in attention, memory, information processing, and executive functions. The objective of this study was to determine if post-COVID fatigue, manifested as tiredness while performing low-intensity physical activity, has a detrimental effect on neuropsychological performance, to achieve this, we randomly selected 20 participants with post-COVID fatigue and 20 SARS-CoV-2 negative age-matched controls from a database of 360 residents of Tijuana, Baja California in a cross-sectional study design. All 40 participants responded to a health survey, along with a neuropsychological assessment test via telephone call. Statistical analysis was performed using a multiple linear regression model including the following independent variables: study condition (post-COVID fatigue or negative control), sex, age, years of education, hypertension, asthma, administration of supplemental oxygen during COVID-19 recovery, and the hour at which the evaluation started. Significant regression analysis was obtained for all global parameters of the assessment, including BANFE-2 score (p = 0.021, R² Adj. = 0.263), NEUROPSI score (p = 0.008, R² Adj. = 0.319), and total errors (p = 0.021, R² Adj. = 0.263), with significant regression coefficients for study condition on two global parameters, BANFE-2 score (p = 0.028, β = - 0.371) and NEUROPSI score (p = 0.010, β = -0.428). These findings suggest that the presence of post-COVID fatigue is a factor associated with a decrease in neuropsychological performance.