Objectives/Purpose. Similarities between symptoms experienced after non-central nervous system cancer and after COVID-19 have been identified regarding perceived cognitive impairment (PCI) and its association with neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety, fatigue, and sleep disturbance. However, direct comparisons of symptom clusters between the two illness types had not been examined. Therefore, this study aimed to compare associations of post illness PCI with related neuropsychiatric symptoms between cancer and COVID-19.
Sample and Setting. Participants were recruited via emails to university students and staff from an Australian university, as well as a Facebook group for people affected by cancer. Thirteen cancer survivors and 158 individuals who have had COVID-19 took part.
Procedure. Data were collected cross-sectionally through an online questionnaire. Analyses involved bivariate correlations, Fisher-z transformations, and hierarchical regression analyses.
Results. Increased post cancer and post COVID-19 PCI was significantly associated with greater depression, anxiety, fatigue, and sleep disturbance. No significant differences were found between the cancer and COVID-19 groups for these associations, except for a higher association between increased depression and reduced cognitive abilities in the cancer group. Moreover, increased fatigue, sleep disturbance, and anxiety contributed significant unique variance in greater PCI post COVID-19, with fatigue being the strongest independent correlate. For cancer survivors who attributed cognitive impairment both to cancer-related causes and to post COVID-19 causes, severity of PCI tended to be higher when attributed to cancer than to COVID-19.
Conclusions and Clinical Implications. These findings shed light on symptoms that may associate with post illness PCI and provide an empirical basis for future comparative research between these two illness types. Given similar symptom clusters for both illness types, similar treatment approaches that address symptom clusters rather than cognitive impairment in isolation might be considered. Potential effects of COVID-19 on cognition in cancer survivors warrant further investigation.