Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40933864›Full record

ArticleBrain, behavior, & immunity - health2025

Neurocognitive trajectories in long COVID: Evidence from longitudinal analyses.

Jacqueline H Becker, Jia Li, Jenny J Lin, Alex Federman, Emilia Bagiella, Minal S Kale, Daniel Fierer, Logan Bartram, Juan P Wisnivesky

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Brain, behavior, & immunity - health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Temporal patterns of neurological deterioration in COVID-19 survivors: a longitudinal cohort analysis of post-acute neurological sequelae.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Observational
  8. Article
  9. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Jacqueline H BeckerDivision of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
Jia LiGraduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
Jenny J LinDivision of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
Alex FedermanDivision of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
Emilia BagiellaCenter for Biostatistics, Department of Population Health Science & Policy, Icahn school of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
Minal S KaleDivision of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
Daniel FiererDivision of Infectious Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
Logan BartramDivision of Infectious Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
Juan P WisniveskyDivision of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Patients frequently report symptoms of cognitive impairment or "brain fog" after acute COVID-19 infection, but the trajectory of these symptoms over time has yet to be determined. We assessed cognitive function over a 42-month period after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and identified factors associated with the trajectory of cognitive function over this period. Methods: We analyzed data from participants in the Mount Sinai Health System Post-COVID-19 Registry in New York City, a prospective cohort study of adults followed after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection of any severity. Participants were identified from a list of all patients with COVID-19 who received care at an MSHS facility in New York, recruited beginning April 2020 and followed through January 2024. Cognition was assessed using well-validated in-person measures of attention, working memory, processing speed, executive functioning, language, and memory. We used linear mixed models to investigate the relationships between cognitive scores and time. We also assessed factors (including race, ethnicity, site of acute COVID-19 care, fatigue, depression, anxiety, body mass index, medical comorbidities, and COVID-19 vaccination) that may influence changes in cognitive scores over time. Findings: We analyzed data from 1553 participants (median age 53 years, 63 % female, 17 % Black, 21 % Hispanic). In adjusted analyses, scores from cognitive measures of attention, working memory, processing speed, executive functions, and verbal learning and memory improved progressively through 42 months post-COVID. However, despite the improvements, on average, measures of processing speed and executive functioning remained ≥1 standard deviation below the normative mean. Having a body mass index of <25 kg/m Interpretation: While cognitive impairment occurring after COVID-19 improved over time in most domains, processing speed and executive functioning remained below the normal range. The cognitive health burden of Long COVID is therefore significant and lasting. Future studies should examine interventions to support rapid recovery, as well as dynamic risk prediction models to determine factors that may impact cognitive recovery longer term.

Indexed as

Cognitive impairmentCOVID-19Long COVID

Identifiers

PMID40933864
PMCPMC12419117

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.