Cognitions and Emotions of Patients During Post-Covid Rehabilitation

Abstract

Background. A lot of scientific articles have been published since the global COVID-19 pandemic was officially announced by WHO. Although different aspects of COVID-19 impact on the mental sphere were studied, some issues regarding the psychological characteristics of those who have had a coronavirus infection are still not fully revealed. It is noted by many authors that even when the main symptoms of the disease are subsided, symptoms of anxiety, depression, cognitive & mood disorders are still persistent even after the treatment.
 Purpose: to study cognitive and emotional spheres of patients who are recovering from coronavirus infection and currently undergoing rehabilitation procedures.
 Materials and methods. The study involved 100 patients undergoing medical rehabilitation, 55 of them are recovering from traumatological, neurological and cardiovascular disorders (27 male and 28 female patients, aged 57±10) and 45 patients are recovering from pneumonia caused by coronavirus infection (11 male and 34 female patients, aged 58±12). The study was conducted using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA), the Hospital Anxiety & Depression Scale (HADS), and the Health-Activity-Mood Scale (SAN). Statistical analysis of raw data had included calculation of descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Student’s t-test for independent groups, Fisher’s φ* transformation and significance of correlation coefficients differences with Fisher’s transformation & Student T-distribution, and was processed with Microsoft Office Excel 2016 build-in data analysis package.
 Results. Analysis of MoCA results showed that ratio of severe impairments of memory functions and attention span is higher in post-COVID group of patients. This group also had higher rate of anxiety symptoms and sub-clinical depression state. In both groups more than a half of the patients have average level of anxiety and depression, however patients from post-COVID group are more likely to experience more symptoms of anxiety than non-COVID patients. Patients from post-COVID group are significantly more likely to have a higher scores of anxiety compared to patients in the other group and at the same time they are less likely to have average anxiety level. Differences between groups were discovered for “Health” and “Mood” scales of SAN with higher scores among post-COID patients as well as lower scores for “Activity” scale.
 Conclusion. Statistically significant differences between the groups were found; common and specific correlations were found for both groups. The results may be useful for healthcare professionals working with post-COVID patients, and can also be used by psychologists who deal with the problems of social and psychological rehabilitation of post-COVID patients.