COVID and Heart Attack Patients Experienced Similar Neurological Symptoms, Study Finds

Key TakeawaysPeople with long COVID have similar rates of psychiatric diagnoses and neuropsychiatric symptoms as people who recovered from a heart attack.While most people recovering from COVID-19 infection had poor cognitive performance after hospital discharge, their symptoms improved after 6 months.While neurological symptoms between the two groups were similar, there were more complaints about loss of smell in people who recovered from COVID-19.

Key Takeaways

People with long COVID have similar rates of psychiatric diagnoses and neuropsychiatric symptoms as people who recovered from a heart attack.While most people recovering from COVID-19 infection had poor cognitive performance after hospital discharge, their symptoms improved after 6 months.While neurological symptoms between the two groups were similar, there were more complaints about loss of smell in people who recovered from COVID-19.

More hospitalized patients are reporting cognitive symptoms from COVID-19 infection. But their risk for developing long-term neuropsychiatric and neurological complications is not so different from people who go to the hospital for heart problems, according to a new study published inJAMA Psychiatry.

People who recovered from COVID-19 infection had similar neuropsychiatric symptoms as people who recovered from a heart attack six months after leaving the hospital. Although, people infected with COVID-19 experienced more severe cognitive impairment.

To the study authors’ knowledge, this is the first study comparing neurological symptoms and diagnoses from COVID-19 illness with other health conditions.

“In order to say there’s a neurological difference between COVID-19 versus other diseases, you need to have a control group,”Michael E. Benros, MD, PhD, a professor of immuno-psychiatry at the University of Copenhagen and senior author of the study, told Verywell. “This is the basics in research [design] but COVID-19 research has gone very fast and most studies have forgotten that.”

One study reviewing the methodology of COVID-19 studies found most to be of poor quality, and likely because of the rush to publish in a timely manner.

Neurological Long COVID Symptoms

Researchers are learning more about long COVID—a range of new or existing symptoms that persist more than a month after the virus has left the body. An October 2021 study estimates that more than half of people who recover from COVID-19 illness develop long COVID.The findings also suggest that most long COVID symptoms affect the lungs and the brain.

A study from 2021 found that the most common neurological symptoms after COVID-19 infection include:

A 2021 survey of people with long COVID found that more than 91% took over 35 weeks to recover and almost 86% experienced relapses when trying to exercise or under stress. Additionally, 88% of respondents experienced cognitive or memory problems, and about 45% needed to reduce their work hours because of long COVID. At the time of the survey, about 22% were not working because of illness.

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A March 2022 study suggests the severity of long COVID symptoms contributed to worse cognition and more memory deficits.

Scientists have not determined why some people experience cognitive and neurological symptoms after infection. However, research suggests that people who experience fatigue or neuropsychiatric symptoms during infection are more likely to have cognitive symptoms after infection.

What This Means For YouGetting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself against COVID-19 infection. Benros advises people remain vigilant about their cognitive state even if their medical condition is not a COVID-19 infection.

What This Means For You

Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself against COVID-19 infection. Benros advises people remain vigilant about their cognitive state even if their medical condition is not a COVID-19 infection.

Similar Symptoms

The research team compared the cognitive and neuropsychological side effects six months after people were hospitalized for either a COVID-19 infection or a heart attack between July 2020 and July 2021.

They recruited people who had heart attacks because, like COVID-19 illness, the condition is life-threatening and carries a risk for psychological complications.

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The six-month follow-up also revealed that 19% of people in the COVID-19 group and 20% of people in the non-COVID-19 group were diagnosed with a psychiatric condition, indicating similar rates of diagnoses after leaving the hospital.

The team conducted a semi-structured interview to assess subjective symptoms. About 81% of people in the COVID-19 group and 93% of people in the non-COVID-19 group complained of at least one symptom. Both groups had similar complaints about cognitive and neurologic symptoms, including trouble with memory or concentrating. The only exception between the groups was the loss of smell, which was more common among the COVID-19 group.

Benros explains that the most likely explanation behind similar neuropsychiatric symptoms with COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 conditions is a worsening inflammatory response that he said is very equal between the two patient groups.

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“They have similar CRP levels, which is a marker of inflammation, which were [around] 200 in both groups,” Benros said. “Both groups actually have similar severe inflammatory responses, whereas if you’ve seen healthy individuals, the CRP is below one.”

“There are multiple potential underlying causes I see are similar across the two groups,” Benros said. “With the literature right now, it seems the effect on the brain is mainly because of the inflammatory response, but you might also have a period where the brain has not had enough oxygen which can also cause cognitive deficits and psychiatric symptoms.”

The information in this article is current as of the date listed, which means newer information may be available when you read this. For the most recent updates on COVID-19, visit ourcoronavirus news page.

8 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Nersesjan V, Fonsmark L, Christensen RHB, et al.Neuropsychiatric and cognitive outcomes in patients 6 months after COVID-19 requiring hospitalization compared with matched control patients hospitalized for non–COVID-19 illness.JAMA Psychiatry. Published online March 23, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.0284Jung RG, Di Santo P, Clifford C, et al.Methodological quality of COVID-19 clinical research.Nat Commun. 2021;12(1):943. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21220-5Groff D, Sun A, Ssentongo AE, et al.Short-term and long-term rates of postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection: a systematic review.JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(10):e2128568. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.28568Graham EL, Clark JR, Orban ZS, et al.Persistent neurologic symptoms and cognitive dysfunction in non‐hospitalized Covid‐19 “long haulers”.Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2021;8(5):1073-1085. doi:10.1002/acn3.51350Davis HE, Assaf GS, McCorkell L, et al.Characterizing long COVID in an international cohort: 7 months of symptoms and their impact.EClinicalMedicine. 2021;38:101019. doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101019Guo P, Benito Ballesteros A, Yeung SP, et al.COVCOG 2: cognitive and memory deficits in long COVID: a second publication from the COVID and Cognition Study.Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:804937. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.804937Guo P, Benito Ballesteros A, Yeung SP, et al.COVCOG 1: factors predicting physical, neurological and cognitive symptoms in long COVID in a community sample. A first publication from the COVID and Cognition Study.Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:804922. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.804922Wan D, Du T, Hong W, et al.Neurological complications and infection mechanism of SARS-CoV-2.Sig Transduct Target Ther. 2021;6(1):406. doi:10.1038/s41392-021-00818-7

8 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Nersesjan V, Fonsmark L, Christensen RHB, et al.Neuropsychiatric and cognitive outcomes in patients 6 months after COVID-19 requiring hospitalization compared with matched control patients hospitalized for non–COVID-19 illness.JAMA Psychiatry. Published online March 23, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.0284Jung RG, Di Santo P, Clifford C, et al.Methodological quality of COVID-19 clinical research.Nat Commun. 2021;12(1):943. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21220-5Groff D, Sun A, Ssentongo AE, et al.Short-term and long-term rates of postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection: a systematic review.JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(10):e2128568. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.28568Graham EL, Clark JR, Orban ZS, et al.Persistent neurologic symptoms and cognitive dysfunction in non‐hospitalized Covid‐19 “long haulers”.Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2021;8(5):1073-1085. doi:10.1002/acn3.51350Davis HE, Assaf GS, McCorkell L, et al.Characterizing long COVID in an international cohort: 7 months of symptoms and their impact.EClinicalMedicine. 2021;38:101019. doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101019Guo P, Benito Ballesteros A, Yeung SP, et al.COVCOG 2: cognitive and memory deficits in long COVID: a second publication from the COVID and Cognition Study.Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:804937. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.804937Guo P, Benito Ballesteros A, Yeung SP, et al.COVCOG 1: factors predicting physical, neurological and cognitive symptoms in long COVID in a community sample. A first publication from the COVID and Cognition Study.Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:804922. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.804922Wan D, Du T, Hong W, et al.Neurological complications and infection mechanism of SARS-CoV-2.Sig Transduct Target Ther. 2021;6(1):406. doi:10.1038/s41392-021-00818-7

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Nersesjan V, Fonsmark L, Christensen RHB, et al.Neuropsychiatric and cognitive outcomes in patients 6 months after COVID-19 requiring hospitalization compared with matched control patients hospitalized for non–COVID-19 illness.JAMA Psychiatry. Published online March 23, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.0284Jung RG, Di Santo P, Clifford C, et al.Methodological quality of COVID-19 clinical research.Nat Commun. 2021;12(1):943. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21220-5Groff D, Sun A, Ssentongo AE, et al.Short-term and long-term rates of postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection: a systematic review.JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(10):e2128568. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.28568Graham EL, Clark JR, Orban ZS, et al.Persistent neurologic symptoms and cognitive dysfunction in non‐hospitalized Covid‐19 “long haulers”.Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2021;8(5):1073-1085. doi:10.1002/acn3.51350Davis HE, Assaf GS, McCorkell L, et al.Characterizing long COVID in an international cohort: 7 months of symptoms and their impact.EClinicalMedicine. 2021;38:101019. doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101019Guo P, Benito Ballesteros A, Yeung SP, et al.COVCOG 2: cognitive and memory deficits in long COVID: a second publication from the COVID and Cognition Study.Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:804937. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.804937Guo P, Benito Ballesteros A, Yeung SP, et al.COVCOG 1: factors predicting physical, neurological and cognitive symptoms in long COVID in a community sample. A first publication from the COVID and Cognition Study.Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:804922. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.804922Wan D, Du T, Hong W, et al.Neurological complications and infection mechanism of SARS-CoV-2.Sig Transduct Target Ther. 2021;6(1):406. doi:10.1038/s41392-021-00818-7

Nersesjan V, Fonsmark L, Christensen RHB, et al.Neuropsychiatric and cognitive outcomes in patients 6 months after COVID-19 requiring hospitalization compared with matched control patients hospitalized for non–COVID-19 illness.JAMA Psychiatry. Published online March 23, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.0284

Jung RG, Di Santo P, Clifford C, et al.Methodological quality of COVID-19 clinical research.Nat Commun. 2021;12(1):943. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21220-5

Groff D, Sun A, Ssentongo AE, et al.Short-term and long-term rates of postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection: a systematic review.JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(10):e2128568. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.28568

Graham EL, Clark JR, Orban ZS, et al.Persistent neurologic symptoms and cognitive dysfunction in non‐hospitalized Covid‐19 “long haulers”.Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2021;8(5):1073-1085. doi:10.1002/acn3.51350

Davis HE, Assaf GS, McCorkell L, et al.Characterizing long COVID in an international cohort: 7 months of symptoms and their impact.EClinicalMedicine. 2021;38:101019. doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101019

Guo P, Benito Ballesteros A, Yeung SP, et al.COVCOG 2: cognitive and memory deficits in long COVID: a second publication from the COVID and Cognition Study.Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:804937. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.804937

Guo P, Benito Ballesteros A, Yeung SP, et al.COVCOG 1: factors predicting physical, neurological and cognitive symptoms in long COVID in a community sample. A first publication from the COVID and Cognition Study.Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:804922. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.804922

Wan D, Du T, Hong W, et al.Neurological complications and infection mechanism of SARS-CoV-2.Sig Transduct Target Ther. 2021;6(1):406. doi:10.1038/s41392-021-00818-7

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