Acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and self-reported post-acute cognitive dysfunctions from the Danish EFTER-COVID survey.

BACKGROUND: The extent and burden of post-acute cognitive dysfunctions following SARS-CoV-2 infection is uncertain. METHODS: 25,485 SARS-CoV-2 test-positive and 25,032 test-negative individuals were repeatedly asked to score symptoms of subjective cognitive deficits 2 to 18 months after test using the "Cognitive complaints in bipolar disorder rating assessment" (COBRA) tool. Poisson mixed-effects models were used to estimate Score Ratios (SRs) by comparing scores between test-positive and test-negative individuals. CONCLUSION: In the general population of SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals, self-reported post-acute scores of cognitive dysfunctions are low and only slightly higher than corresponding scores among test-negatives. Higher COBRA scores among hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 test positives corroborate with long-term cognitive impairment being most pronounced among those with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.