TORONTO -- Individuals who recovered from COVID-19, including those who no longer had symptoms, exhibited significant “cognitive deficits,” according to a large study out of the U.K.

The research, conducted by academics from Imperial College London, Kings College and the Universities of Cambridge, Southampton and Chicago, aimed to find out how COVID-19 affected mental health and cognition.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from 81,337 participants of the Great British Intelligence Test from January to December 2020. Of those participants, nearly 13,000 reported they had contracted the novel coronavirus.

Importantly, the study said that only 275 participants had completed the intelligence test both before and after contracting COVID-19.

For the rest of the participants, the researchers said they employed a linear model to predict general cognitive performance, or premorbid intelligence, based on age (to the third order), sex, handedness, ethnicity, first language, country of residence, occupational status, and earnings.

“Predicted and observed general performance correlated substantially, providing a proxy measure of premorbid intelligence of comparable performance to common explicit tests such as the National Adult Reading Test,” the study stated.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/covid-19-linked-to-significant-drop-in-intelligence-research-1.5524877