Of growing concern are the number of people suffering continued COVID-19 symptoms for months after infection (‘long COVID’). Reports in the media have indicated that many people with COVID-19 experience ‘brain fog’ with problems remembering, concentrating, and performing daily tasks. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), mainly affects the respiratory system, but can also impact neurological function. Moreover, our results suggest that working memory deficits with COVID-19 can recover over time, although impairments may persist in those with ongoing symptoms. Our findings demonstrate that COVID-19 negatively impacts working memory function, but only in adults aged 25 years and over. However, those with ongoing COVID-19 symptoms continued to show a reduction in memory scores. We found that memory scores gradually increased over a period of 17 months post-COVID-19. Memory scores for all COVID groups combined were significantly reduced compared to the non-COVID group in every age category 25 years and over, but not for the youngest age category (18-24 years old). Our main finding was a significant reduction in memory scores in all COVID groups (self-reported, positive-tested and hospitalised) compared to the non-COVID group. The factors significantly affecting memory scores were COVID status, age, time post-COVID and ongoing symptoms. The objective memory scores were significantly correlated with participants’ own assessment of their cognitive function. A principal component analysis explored the relationship between subjective ratings and objective memory scores. Categorical regression was used to assess the contribution of COVID status, age, time post-COVID (number of months elapsed since having had COVID), symptoms, ongoing symptoms and gender, followed by non-parametric statistics. Most participants (93.3%) completed the survey and memory quiz relatively rapidly (mean time of 8.84 minutes). 5428 participants successfully completed the survey and memory quiz between 8 th December 2020 and 5 th July 2021 (68.6% non-COVID-19 and 31.4% COVID-19). We developed and implemented an online anonymous survey with a working memory quiz incorporating aspects of gamification to engage participants. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on working memory function. Although coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects the respiratory system, it can also have neurological consequences leading to cognitive deficits such as memory problems.
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