Cognitive Rehabilitation for People With Cognitive Covid19

Cognitive impairment is increasingly recognised as a major component of long Covid, and is estimated to be present in 25-75% of affected individuals. This impairment impacts quality of life and the loss of functional ability has major consequences for affected people, their families and the wider economy given people's difficulty in returning to work.This study will focus on helping people recover from cognitive Covid. This will involve use of rehabilitation strategies aimed at improving function in those cognitive functions identified in Stage 1 as being most affected, and assessing the benefit of rehabilitation on quality of life and people's ability to return to everyday function. These strategies will be co-produced in collaboration with a group of people living with cognitive Covid. At the end of Stage 2 we will produce a freely available "Covid-19 Cognitive Recovery Guide" for affected people, their close contacts and clinicians.In conclusion, cognitive impairment is frequently observed in long Covid but at present little is understood about its nature, or how it can be treated. The sheer scale of the CV19 pandemic makes this a top priority unmet need for healthcare worldwide. The aim of this study is to meet this need and to deliver a treatment plan for affected people which will help them return to normal life and working ability.

Inclusion Criteria:Aged between 30 and 60 yearsEvidence of prior CV19 infection:either positive CV19 PCRor positive CV19 antibody testor acute symptoms consistent with the recognised core features of acute CV19 infection and post-acute symptoms consistent with the recognised core features of long CovidCognitive impairment persisting more than three months after the acute CV19 infection, defined in terms of subjective reports of cognitive decline post-infectionExclusion Criteria:Cognitive impairment prior to CV19 infectionOccurrence of acute neurological disorder, such as stroke or encephalitis, that could give rise to cognitive sequelaePeople who are on any medications that are considered by the study investigators to have significant adverse effects on cognitionA pre-existing major psychiatric or medical disorder that is considered by the study investigators to have potential to affect cognitionHigh alcohol intakeRecreational drug useLoss of mental capacity such that the affected individual is unable to give informed consentParticipants will not be eligible for Workstream 2 if they do not exhibit significant impairment on baseline cognitive assessments, as they will not gain from cognitive rehabilitation.Participants with pacemakers or other implanted devices, those with metal foreign bodies (e.g. shrapnel from war injuries) and those who have had certain types of surgery will be excluded from the MRI substudy. Although MRI is not known to affect the unborn child, we will also exclude subjects who may be pregnant just to be on the safe side.