Catching even a mild case of Covid-19 can cause problems with a patient's memory for months after they recover, new research has suggested.
Oxford University published the findings, which show that people who had a mild Covid infection but did not report long-Covid symptoms still suffered from worse attention for up to nine months.
It supports other studies that have shown that long-Covid sufferers can have difficulties maintaining attention, a symptom often called "brain fog".
The study worked by asking participants to complete a number of cognitive tests, focusing on attention, memory, planning, and semantic reasoning.
The results found that the participants could still perform well using their short-term working memory but they scored much worse when tested on their memory of past events and in their ability to sustain attention over time.
However, most people's memory and attention returned to normal after six to nine months..
The research was conducted by psychologists at Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology and Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences.
Dr Sijia Zhao of Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology said: “What is surprising is that although our Covid-19 survivors did not feel any more symptomatic at the time of testing, they showed degraded attention and memory.
“Our findings reveal that people can experience some chronic cognitive consequences for months.”
