Table 1.
Demographic and clinical features and neuropsychological assessment
| Demographic and clinical characteristics | ME/CFS (n = 42) RS M (SD) |
Post-COVID-19 condition (n = 73) RS M (SD) |
Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 43.50 (8.24) | 44.36 (9.47) | U = 1397.50 |
| Women, n (%) | 39 (92.9) | 51 (69.9) | χ2 = 8.29** |
| Caucasian race, n (%) | 41 (97.6) | 72 (98.6) | χ2 = .159 |
| Education, years | 14.78 (4.31) | 16.34 (3.33) | U = 1191.00* |
| Disease duration, months | 85.57 (100.71) | 12.39 (5.55) | U = 2592.50** |
| Neuropsychologic assessment | |||
| General cognition | |||
| MoCA | 25.52 (2.95) | 25.09 (3.06) | U = 1648.50 |
| Verbal fluency | |||
| Animals | 18.95 (4.96) | 19.89 (5.98) | t = .86 |
| P | 14.16 (4.71) | 13.84 (4.80) | U = 1603.50 |
| Visual processing speed | |||
| SDMT | 42.73 (11.47) | 47.23 (10.93) | U = 1149.50* |
| SPCT 3 | 14.30 (4.25) | 16.75 (5.26) | U = 1073.50** |
| SPCT 6 | 8.67 (2.85) | 8.91 (3.12) | U = 1434.50 |
| Attention | |||
| Verbal attention | |||
| Direct digits (WAIS-IV) | 5.64 (1.10) | 5.56 (1.06) | U = 1555.00 |
| Visual attention | |||
| TMT-A | 40.78 (16.75) | 38.41 (14.50) | U = 1674.5 |
| Sustained attention (TP-R) | |||
| Hits | 152.57 (51.54) | 179.78 (52.38) | t = 2.69** |
| Omissions | 43.00 (41.73) | 36.82 (28.20) | U = 1563.00 |
| Mistakes | 5.33 (15.17) | 0.89 (2.37) | U = 1677.00 |
| GIAP | 106.30 (64.84) | 141.95 (58.49) | U = 999.80** |
| ICI | 96.00 (14.81) | 98.55 (5.27) | U = 1492.00 |
| Visuoconstructive abilities | |||
| TCF copy | 32.64 (3.12) | 32.05 (3.17) | U = 1728.00 |
| Visuospatial perception | |||
| Benton JLO | 22.57 (4.32) | 24.52 (4.98) | U = 1064.5** |
| Visual memory | |||
| TCF memory | 20.39 (6.30) | 21.73 (5.53) | t = 1.19 |
| Trial 1 BVMT-R | 4.73 (2.29) | 5.63 (3.54) | t = 1.46 |
| Trial 1–3 BVMT-R | 20.90 (6.46) | 22.38 (7.37) | U = 1334.00 |
| Trial 4 BVMT-R | 8.35 (3.31) | 8.31 (2.70) | U = 1507.50 |
| DI BVMT-R | 5.66 (.78) | 5.64 (1.04) | U = 1505.50 |
| Verbal memory (HVLT-R) | |||
| Trial 1 | 5.35 (1.62) | 5.31 (1.55) | U = 1530.50 |
| Total (1–3) | 23.23 (4.50) | 22.57 (5.92) | t = -.63 |
| Trial 4 | 8.28 (2.47) | 7.90 (2.83) | U = 1608.00 |
| DI | 10.02 (1.63) | 9.53 (2.47) | U = 1655.50 |
| Executive functions | |||
| Abstraction | |||
| Similarities (WAIS-IV) | 20.33 (4.30) | 22.05 (5.65) | U = 1298.50 |
| Alternating attention | |||
| TMT-B | 99.61 (49.61) | 86.65 (42.68) | U = 1877.00* |
| Working memory | |||
| Indirect digits (WAIS-IV) | 4.07 (.89) | 4.39 (1.69) | U = 1262.50 |
| Visual processing speed and inhibition (Stroop Test) | |||
| Word | 88.38 (19.96) | 93.49 (24.97) | U = 1322.50 |
| Color | 61.52 (13.12) | 66.32 (13.79) | t = 1.83 |
| Word-color | 36.67 (10.58) | 40.63 (10.249 | t = 1.97 |
| Cognitive flexibility (M-WCST) | |||
| Categories | 5.78 (1.40) | 6.12 (1.35) | U = 1288.00 |
| Perseverative mistakes | 1.90 (2.34) | 1.76 (2.28) | U = 1607.00 |
| Total mistakes | 7.64 (5.08) | 7.13 (5.71) | U = 1680.50 |
The Student’s t and U Mann–Whitney scores were obtained using the SS, except in those cases in which only RS was available
Benton JLO Benton Judgment Line Orientation; BVMT-R Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised; HVLT-R Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised; GIAP Global Index of Attention and Perception; ICI Impulsivity Control Index; M Mean; MocA Montreal Cognitive Assessment; M-WCST Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; RS raw score; SD standard deviation; SDMT Symbol Digit Modality Test; SPCT Salthouse Perception Comparison Test; TCF Taylor Complex Figure; TMT Trail Making Test; TP-R Toulouse Piéron-Revised Test; WAIS IV Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale IV
*p < 0.05 **p < 0.01 ***p ≤ 0.001