Features of damage to the central nervous system and mental sphere in patients with comorbid post-COVID syndrome

The prevalence of post-COVID syndrome in patients treated on an outpatient basis ranges from 10 to 35 %; it can reach 80 % in patients with severe coronavirus infection. It is currently hypothesized that long-COVID may be due to both the direct effects of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the biopsychosocial effects of COVID-19.
The aim. To study the characteristics of damage to the central nervous system and mental sphere in patients with comorbid post-COVID syndrome.
Materials and methods. To study the clinical features of the course of post-COVID syndrome, 98 patients who had suffered COVID-19 were examined. Of these, 18 (18.4 %) were men, 80 (81.6 %) were women. The mean age in the group was 56.05 ± 1.27 years. The examination program included a questionnaire, clinical examination, pulse oximetry, and assessment of exercise tolerance using the Borg scale. Statistical processing was carried out using the Statistica software package, version 6 (StatSoft Inc., USA). The results of the study are presented as a median, upper and lower quartiles. After analyzing the compliance of the studied indicators with the law of normal distribution (Shapiro – Wilk test), the groups were compared using the Wilcoxon test for pairwise comparison of related samples. Differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05.
Results. Our studies of comorbidity and complications after COVID-19 infection revealed the most frequent involvement of three systems in the pathological process: cardiovascular, nervous and endocrine. Metabolic syndrome was detected in 67 % and involvement of the cardiovascular system was detected in 48.8 % of those examined.
One of the main manifestations of post-COVID syndrome is damage to the central nervous system and mental sphere in the form of mild cognitive and emotional-volitional disorders with asthenodepressive and anxiety-depressive disorders.
Conclusion. The health status of patients after COVID-19 is significantly lower than that of the general population. The study results indicate an urgent need to study the pathogenesis of long COVID and develop effective interventions to reduce the risk of its development.

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