Assessment of the cognitive status of Covid -19 patients and its correlation to blood pressure

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: The disease caused by Corona virus (Covid-19) has become a public health importance in recent times as its human-to-human transmission is faster when compared to other pandemic of recent times. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, epidemiology and clinical characteristics of the disease including spread of the disease and mortality have been reported extensively. Little is known about Covid 19 impact on cognition; hence the present was undertaken. The study aimed at assessing the cognitive status in patients admitted for infection with corona and to determine the correlation between cognitive status and blood pressure in the same patients.   Materials and Methods: The study is a cross-sectional study that included 300 adults of both genders admitted in the tertiary care hospital with RTPCR positive for Covid-19. A cognition failure questionnaire was used to record the patient’s response and also BP was recorded.       Results: For analysis Descriptive statistics like mean and Standard Deviation, and to find association between parameters - Spearman correlation, Mann Whitney U Test were used. Analysis was done using SPSS version 22. Even though there was no significant association seen between Overall cognitive scores, forgetfulness scores, and false triggering scores with gender, there was significant association seen between overall cognitive scores and false triggering scores with age. Applying spearman correlation with respect to overall cognitive failure with duration of hospital stay showed statistically significance*(p<0.001) and between cognitive failure and diastolic blood pressure showed statistical significance with respect to overall cognition.   Conclusion: Infection with Covid-19 has an effect on cognition. Duration of hospital stay has an impact on cognition with associated blood pressure changes in the Covid-19 disease.