Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38375608›Full record

SynthesisEuropean journal of neurology2025

Cognitive domains affected post-COVID-19; a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Jack B Fanshawe, Brendan F Sargent, James B Badenoch, Aman Saini, Cameron J Watson, Aleksandra Pokrovskaya, Daruj Aniwattanapong, Isabella Conti, Charles Nye, Ella Burchill and 16 more

Erratum issuedAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in European journal of neurology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 25 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–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

25 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Review
  4. Article
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  7. Resting-state functional connectivity and cognitive impairment after COVID-19 infection: Evidence from a large-scale fMRI study.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2026
    Article
  8. Review
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  11. Cognitive Trajectories After Hospitalization for COVID-19: A 36-Month Longitudinal Study.The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2026
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

26 authors.

Jack B FanshaweDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-3732-217X
Brendan F SargentDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
James B BadenochBarts Health NHS Trust, London, UK.
Aman SainiSchool of Life and Medical Sciences, University College London, London, UK.
Cameron J WatsonInstitute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Aleksandra PokrovskayaDepartment of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Daruj AniwattanapongInstitute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Isabella ContiInstitute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Charles NyeGloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucester, UK.
Ella BurchillDivision of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK.
Zain U HussainNHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Glasgow, UK.
Khanafi SaidMbeya College of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, Tanzania.
Elinda KuhogaMbeya College of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, Tanzania.
Kukatharmini TharmaratnamDepartment of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Sophie PenderedDepartment of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Bernard MbweleMbeya College of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, Tanzania.
Maxime TaquetDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Greta K WoodDepartment of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Jonathan P RogersDivision of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-4671-5410
Adam HampshireDepartment of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Alan CarsonCentre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Anthony S DavidDivision of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK.
Benedict D MichaelDepartment of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Timothy R NicholsonInstitute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Stella-Maria PaddickTranslational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Charles E LeekDepartment of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.

Funding

Medical Research CouncilUK Research and Innovation
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

background and purposeThis review aims to characterize the pattern of post-COVID-19 cognitive impairment, allowing better prediction of impact on daily function to inform clinical management and rehabilitation.

methodsA systematic review and meta-analysis of neurocognitive sequelae following COVID-19 was conducted, following PRISMA-S guidelines. Studies were included if they reported domain-specific cognitive assessment in patients with COVID-19 at >4 weeks post-infection. Studies were deemed high-quality if they had >40 participants, utilized healthy controls, had low attrition rates and mitigated for confounders.

resultsFive of the seven primary Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) cognitive domains were assessed by enough high-quality studies to facilitate meta-analysis. Medium effect sizes indicating impairment in patients post-COVID-19 versus controls were seen across executive function (standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.45), learning and memory (SMD -0.55), complex attention (SMD -0.54) and language (SMD -0.54), with perceptual motor function appearing to be impacted to a greater degree (SMD -0.70). A narrative synthesis of the 56 low-quality studies also suggested no obvious pattern of impairment.

conclusionsThis review found moderate impairments across multiple domains of cognition in patients post-COVID-19, with no specific pattern. The reported literature was significantly heterogeneous, with a wide variety of cognitive tasks, small sample sizes and disparate initial disease severities limiting interpretability. The finding of consistent impairment across a range of cognitive tasks suggests broad, as opposed to domain-specific, brain dysfunction. Future studies should utilize a harmonized test battery to facilitate inter-study comparisons, whilst also accounting for the interactions between COVID-19, neurological sequelae and mental health, the interplay between which might explain cognitive impairment.

Indexed as

Cognitive DysfunctionCOVID-19Executive FunctionHumansattentioncognitioncognitive impairmentCOVID‐19executive functionlanguagelearningmemory

Identifiers

PMID38375608
PMCPMC11618111

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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 Socratic graph.