# Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on Cognitive Function and Mental Health

> **NIH VA I01** · VA NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HEALTH CARE SYS · 2024 · —

## Abstract

The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 continues to have a detrimental impact on society, even after the
rapid development of safe and effective vaccines. The worst phases of the pandemic caused systemic
and cultural shifts in education, work, commerce, social ties, and even the process of grieving. The
SARS-CoV-2 virus has taken 6.5 million lives worldwide, over 1 million lives in the US, and nearly 23,000
Veterans receiving care in the VA system. The highly infectious Omicron variant has caused the largest
surge of cases yet, with a peak in mid-January 2022. This variant causes milder symptoms but is more
resistant to current vaccines. While the most severely affected COVID patients are rightfully the focus
of many investigations, patients with milder disease may show lasting changes as well. An important
study by Al-Aly, Xie, and Bowe (2021) identified all non-hospitalized Veterans who had at least one
SARS-CoV-2 positive test and who survived 30 days after diagnosis. Six months later, those who had
COVID had an excess burden of respiratory conditions, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular conditions,
insomnia, fatigue, anxiety disorders, trauma-related disorders, and neurocognitive disorders. Follow-up
studies found that many of these conditions can persist for at least one year (Xie et al., 2022a,b). In
addition, the risk of adverse health outcomes increases in Veterans with multiple infections (Al-Aly et al.,
preprint). Although epidemiological studies have been helpful in identifying population-level trends, a key
missing perspective can be provided by Veterans’ ratings of their own mental and physical symptoms.
This is critical because future interventions require a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by
Veterans with post-COVID conditions. The unique needs of Veterans include higher rates of the
comorbidities commonly associated with a greater risk of negative COVID outcomes (diabetes,
hypertension, and cardiovascular conditions). Ongoing cognitive issues after a COVID infection can also
have a negative impact on employment and daily functioning. Cognitive dysfunction was the third most
commonly reported symptom in a survey of the Long Covid community (Davis et al., 2021), yet "brain
fog" remains scantly investigated, especially in Veterans. The proposed observational study will have a
two group, prospective, repeated measure (3 time points) design with a study group and a closely
matched healthy comparator group. The study group will be Veterans (n=300) who had a positive test for
SARS-CoV-2 within the last 3-24 months but were not hospitalized. This population comprises the
majority of VA patients with positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 (approximately 85-90%). Their results will
be compared to healthy Veteran controls matched on demographic variables, pre-existing psychiatric
conditions, and major comorbidities (n=300). Follow-up tests will be conducted six months and 12
months later. The project will obtain objective measures of cognitive...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10928137
- **Project number:** 5I01CX002502-02
- **Recipient organization:** VA NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HEALTH CARE SYS
- **Principal Investigator:** DIANE SWICK
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-07-01 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10928137

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10928137, Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on Cognitive Function and Mental Health (5I01CX002502-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10928137. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*