Executive Functioning and Sleep Fragmentation in COVID-19 Patients
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- COVID-19
- Sponsor
- Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri SpA
- Enrollment
- 76
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Executive/Inhibitory skills
- Status
- Completed
- Last Updated
- 2 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
This project aims to investigate executive functioning abilities (primary outcome) and quality of sleep (secondary outcome) in patients with COVID-19 (while distinguishing between those with and without sleep fragmentation), compared with an age- and education matched control group of healthy individuals who did not experience contagion. Prefrontal electrical activity will be recorded with EEG in patients, and related to sleep and cognitive-executive metrics.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
- is executive functioning impaired in COVID-19 patients compared with individuals who were not infected?
- is there a relationship between altered sleep and impaired executive functioning in COVID-19 patients?
- is such relationship related to altered prefrontal brain activitity in COVID-19 patients?
Detailed Description
While impaired executive functioning has been often reported in association with COVID-19 contagion, it is still unclear whether, and to what extent, executive deficits might be explained by an altered quality of sleep, that been also frequently reported in COVID-19 patients. On this basis, this project aims to investigate executive functioning abilities (primary outcome) in patients hospitalized for a COVID-19 contagion, while distinguishing between those with and without sleep fragmentation (quality of sleep; secondary outcome), compared with an age- and education matched control group of healthy individuals who did not experience contagion. To this purpose, 38 COVID-19 patients and 38 healthy controls will be administered questionnaires and cognitive tasks aimed to assess: a) executive functioning/inhibitory control (GoNogo task); b) quality of sleep (NOSAS; Insomnia Severity Index; Epworth sleepiness scale). Prefrontal electrical activity will be recorded with EEG in COVID-19 patients, and related to sleep and cognitive-executive metrics. Statistical analyses will be aimed to investigate: a) a possible decrease of executive skills in COVID-19 patients compared with healthy controls, and in COVID-19 patients with fragmented sleep compared with those with normal sleep; b) possible differences in the relationship between executive performance and quality of sleep across the three experimental groups; c) whether possible differences in such relationship relate to prefrontal brain activity in patients. The results of this study will provide novel insights into the consequences of COVID-19 at the cognitive level, thus informing about treatment strategies.
Investigators
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •For patients: current contagion from COVID-19
- •For patients and controls:
- •age\>18 years
- •absence of clinical conditions, cognitive and sensory deficits, and severe psychiatric disorders that would impair participation in research identified through clinical history.
Exclusion Criteria
- •current or past neuro-psychiatric disorder
- •current or past sleep disorder
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Executive/Inhibitory skills
Time Frame: Assessment day
Performance in a GoNogo task
Secondary Outcomes
- Risk of sleep-disordered breathing(Assessment day)
- Sleepiness(Assessment day)
- Severity of nighttime and daytime components of insomnia(Assessment day)