PSYCHOCOGNITIVE STATUS OF PATIENTS WITH ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION COMBINED WITH POST-COVID SYNDROME

Abstract

Objective: To study the psychocognitive status of patients with arterial hypertension (AH) combined with post-COVID syndrome (PCS). Methods: A prospective cohort study involved 134 patients (84 men and 50 women), mean age 62.4±0.6 years, with AH (controlled arterial hypertension, Grade 1-3). The duration of AH was 5.6±0.2 years. Among them 73 patients and a history of COVID-19 infection (confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection; duration more than 12 weeks) with subsequent development of PCS, while 61 patients did not have a history of COVID-19. Patients with PCS which were diagnosed with depressive syndrome, were further divided into two subgroups depending on agomelatine intake (those who received this medication and those who refused). A general clinical examination and psychodiagnostics were carried out using validated methods, such as HADS and SPMSQ. Statistical analysis was carried out in the RStudio program. Results: Based on the HADS questionnaire, patients with PCS demonstrated a higher rate of depressive syndrome compared to the patients without a history of COVID-19 (41% vs. 12%, p<0.001). Based on the severity of depressive syndrome, the following rates were found in the groups: subclinically expressed depression – in 26% of patients with PCS vs. 12% of patients without COVID-19 (p<0.001), clinically pronounced depression (only in the group of patients with PCS) – in 15% (p=0.007). Additionally, in patients with PCS psychocogniцtive function was assessed using SPMSQ questionnaire; among them those receiving agomelatine showed significantly less frequent and severe psychocognitive dysfunction compared to those who refuse the medication intake (32% vs. 94%, p=0.001). Conclusion: Patients with PCS are characterized by a more severe manifestation of anxiety-depressive syndrome, and the use of agomelatine shows statistically significant effectiveness in this category of patients.