| 1. |
- Backman, Linda, et al.
(author)
-
Monthlong Intubated Patient with Life-Threatening COVID-19 and Cerebral Microbleeds Suffers Only Mild Cognitive Sequelae at 8-Month Follow-up : A Case Report
- 2022
-
In: Archives of clinical neuropsychology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0887-6177 .- 1873-5843. ; 37:2, s. 531-543
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: To elaborate on possible cognitive sequelae related to COVID-19, associated cerebrovascular injuries as well as the general consequences from intensive care. COVID-19 is known to have several, serious CNS-related consequences, but neuropsychological studies of severe COVID-19 are still rare.Methods: M., a 45-year-old man, who survived a severe COVID-19 disease course including Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), cerebral microbleeds, and 35 days of mechanical ventilation, is described. We elaborate on M’s recovery and rehabilitation process from onset to the 8-month follow-up. The cognitive functions were evaluated with a comprehensive screening battery at 4 weeks after extubation and at the 8-month follow-up.Results: Following extubation, M. was delirious, reported visual hallucinations, and had severe sleeping difficulties. At about 3 months after COVID-19 onset, M. showed mild to moderate deficits on tests measuring processing speed, working memory, and attention. At assessments at 8 months, M. performed better, with results above average on tests measuring learning, memory, word fluency, and visuospatial functions. Minor deficits were still found regarding logical reasoning, attention, executive functioning, and processing speed. There were no lingering psychiatric symptoms. While M. had returned to a part-time job, he was not able to resume previous work-tasks.Conclusion: This case-study demonstrates possible cognitive deficits after severe COVID-19 and emphasizes the need of a neuropsychological follow-up, with tests sensitive to minor deficits. The main findings of this report provide some support that the long-term prognosis for cognition in severe COVID-19 may be hopeful.
|
|
| 2. |
- Stålhammar, Jacob, 1967, et al.
(author)
-
Neuropsychological Test Performance Among Native and Non-Native Swedes: Second Language Effects. : Neuropsykologisk testprestation hos infödda och icke infödda svensktalande: andraspråkseffekter
- 2022
-
In: Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1873-5843. ; 37:4, s. 826-838
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We aimed to study second language effects on neuropsychological (NP) test performance.We administered an NP test battery in Swedish to 322 healthy community dwelling participants, recruited through the Gothenburg Pilot phase of the Swedish CArdioPulmonary BioImage Study (SCAPIS Pilot). All participants were conversationally fluent Swedish speakers (237 native, 85 non-native, mean age 61.1years). We compared the NP scores of native and non-native participants. We also investigated the influence of (a) age of arrival to Sweden, (b) majority language family of the birth country, and (c) proficiency in Swedish as assessed with a 30 item Boston naming test (BNT).Native speakers obtained better results on all NP tasks with a verbal component, whereas no significant differences were seen on completely nonverbal tasks (Rey complex figure). For non-native speakers, lower age at arrival to Sweden, arrival from a country where Swedish was also spoken, or arrival from a country with a majority language closer to Swedish, were all linked to better NP scores. Dichotomizing by BNT showed that normally-to-highly proficient non-native speakers obtained better scores.Second language effects may contribute to misclassification of non-native speakers. Assumptions of fluency based on short conversations may be misleading. A proficiency assessment with BNT may improve NP score interpretation among non-native speakers.
|
|
