Considering the mechanisms capable of causing brain alterations in COVID-19, we aimed to study the occurrence of cognitive abnormalities in the months following hospital discharge. We recruited 38 (aged 22–74 years; 27 males) patients hospitalized for complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection in nonintensive COVID units. Participants underwent neuropsychological testing about 5 months after hospital discharge. Of all patients, 42.1% had processing speed deficits, while 26.3% showed delayed verbal recall deficits. Twenty-one percent presented with deficits in both processing speed and verbal memory. Bivariate analysis revealed a positive correlation between the lowest arterial oxygen partial pressure (PaO₂) to fractional inspired oxygen (FiO₂) (P/F) ratio during hospitalization and verbal memory consolidation performance (SRT-LTS score, r = 0.404, p = 0.027), as well as a positive correlation between SpO₂ levels upon hospital arrival and delayed verbal recall performance (SRT-D score, r_s = 0.373, p = 0.042). Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) during hospitalization was associated with worse verbal memory performance (ARDS vs. no ARDS: SRT-LTS mean score = 30.63 ± 13.33 vs. 44.50 ± 13.16, p = 0.007; SRT-D mean score = 5.95 ± 2.56 vs. 8.10 ± 2.62, p = 0.029). Cognitive abnormalities can frequently be found in COVID-19 patients 5 months after hospital discharge. Increased fatigability, deficits of concentration and memory, and overall decreased cognitive speed months after hospital discharge can interfere with work and daily activities.

Background and purpose: Cognitive dysfunction has been observed following recovery from COVID‐19. To the best of our knowledge, however, no study has assessed the progression of cognitive impairment after 1 year. The aim was to assess cognitive functioning at 1 year from hospital discharge, and eventual associations with specific clinical variables.Methods: Seventy‐six patients (aged 22–74 years) who had been hospitalized for COVID‐19 were recruited. Patients received neuropsychological assessments at 5 (n = 76) and 12 months (n = 53) from hospital discharge.Results: Over half (63.2%) of the patients had deficits in at least one test at 5 months. Compared to the assessment at 5 months, verbal memory, attention and processing speed improved significantly after 1 year (all p < 0.05), whereas visuospatial memory did not (all p > 0.500). The most affected domains after 1 year were processing speed (28.3%) and long‐term visuospatial (18.1%) and verbal (15.1%) memory. Lower PaO₂/FiO₂ ratios in the acute phase were associated with worse verbal long‐term memory (p = 0.029) and visuospatial learning (p = 0.041) at 5 months. Worse visuospatial long‐term memory at 5 months was associated with hyposmia (p = 0.020) and dysgeusia (p = 0.037).Conclusion: Our study expands the results from previous studies showing that cognitive impairment can still be observed after 1 year. Patients with severe COVID‐19 should receive periodic cognitive follow‐up evaluations, as cognitive deficits in recovered patients could have social and occupational implications.

The first outbreak of COVID-19 in Italy was confirmed on February 21, 2020. Subsequently, COVID-19 turned into a global pandemic, causing a global health emergency, triggering an unprecedented event in the modern era. This study assessed the immediate psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on emotional health and well-being. An ad hoc questionnaire was designed for online completion to expedite data collection during the COVID-19 outbreak. People were invited to participate in the study via social media and email from 4 to 18 March 2020. The entire survey comprised of 21 questions, covering a wide range of factors, such as demographics, disease knowledge, psychological impact, daily life activities, and psychological precautionary measures. The main outcome measure was psychological impact. This was measured based on intensity and prevalence of self-reported feelings of anxiety, fear, sadness, anger, and concern during the epidemic. In total, 10,025 respondents completed the online survey. Of these, about 73% were females, and 100% of the sample possessed good knowledge of the disease. The greatest prevalence of high psychological impact was reported in the <34 years' age group and in north Italy. Additionally, the psychological impact influenced important daily life activities, such as sexuality and nutrition. Our study provides information about the immediate psychological (emotional feelings) responses of Italy's general population to the COVID-19 epidemic. The survey covers several factors that can influence mental health; our results help gauge the psychological burden on the community and offer ways to minimize the impact.

Emotional processing impairments, resulting in a difficulty to decode emotions from faces especially for negative emotions, are characteristic non-motor features of Parkinson’s disease (PD). There is limited evidence about the specific contribution of the cerebellum to the recognition of emotional contents in facial expressions even though patients with cerebellar dysfunction often lose this ability. In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether the recognition of facial expressions can be modulated by cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in PD patients. Nine PD patients were enrolled and received anodal and sham tDCS (2 mA, 20 min), for 5 consecutive days, in two separate cycles at intervals of at least 1 month. The facial emotion recognition task was administered at baseline (T0) and after cerebellar tDCS on day 5 (T1). Our preliminary study showed that anodal cerebellar tDCS significantly enhanced emotional recognition in response to sad facial expressions by about 16%, but left recognition of anger, happiness, and neutral facial expressions unchanged. Despite the small sample size, our preliminary results show that anodal tDCS applied for five consecutive days over the cerebellum modulates the way PD patients recognize specific facial expressions, thus suggesting that the cerebellum plays a crucial role in recognition of negative emotions and corroborating previous knowledge on the link between social cognition and the cerebellum.

From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of surgical masks became widespread. However, they occlude an important part of the face and make it difficult to decode and interpret other people’s emotions. To clarify the effect of surgical masks on configural and featural processing, participants completed a facial emotion recognition task to discriminate between happy, sad, angry, and neutral faces. Stimuli included fully visible faces, masked faces, and a cropped photo of the eyes or mouth region. Occlusion due to the surgical mask affects emotion recognition for sadness, anger, and neutral faces, although no significative differences were found in happiness recognition. Our findings suggest that happiness is recognized predominantly via featural processing.