Psychological and Cognitive Functioning Among Patients Receiving Outpatient Rehabilitation for Post-COVID Sequelae: An Observational Study.
Benjamin A Abramoff, Timothy R Dillingham, Lily A Brown and 5 others
PMID 36202227WHAT IT FOUND
Among patients seeking outpatient rehabilitation for post-COVID symptoms, severe anxiety, depression, PTSD, and cognitive impairment were common.
Poverty and Black race were strongly linked to worse psychological and cognitive outcomes, while acute infection severity predicted depression and cognitive issues but not PTSD.
Key findings
01More than one-third of patients had severe anxiety, depression, or PTSD, and nearly one-fifth had cognitive impairment.
02Medicaid beneficiaries had significantly lower health-related quality of life and were far more likely to experience severe anxiety, depression, and PTSD than privately insured patients.
03African American/Black patients were more likely than White patients to experience severe anxiety, PTSD, and cognitive impairment.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine causality or track changes over time. Patients were self-selected individuals who had access to the specific clinic, so findings may not represent the broader post-COVID population. There were no pre-COVID baseline measures, making it impossible to know if observed disparities existed before infection. The study did not evaluate the effectiveness of any specific rehabilitation interventions.
Declared interests
None reported in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the association between acute infection severity and outcomes as a universal rule; while hospitalization predicted depression and cognitive impairment, it was not associated with PTSD and was marginally protective against anxiety in this sample.