COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN COVID-19 PATIENTS RECEIVING RESPIRATORY TREATMENT (REVIEW)
The pandemic of COVID-19 has not diminished its relevance for more than 1.5 years, creating a constant burden on the healthcare system around the world. In 2020, information appeared and began to accumulate in the literature about patients who underwent severe forms of COVID-19 and received respiratory treatment and after recovery showed symptoms of persistent cognitive pathology. Disorders of varying severity were observed - from mild fatigue of attention to a significant decrease in memory and deterioration in intellectual functions. We reviewed the literature offering explanations for the development of cognitive impairment in these patients. Included publications from Scopus, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, PubMed, RSCI. Of several possible causes (direct damage to the central nervous system by the SARS-CoV-2; acute cerebrovascular pathology associated with vascular damage by cytokines and disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome), the influence of brain hypoxia caused by a complex of mutually aggravating factors is most convincingly substantiated. They included: viral pneumonia with respiratory failure, advanced age of the studied contingent with comorbid somato-neurological diseases, prolonged mechanical ventilation with sedative drugs. Based on the results of the review, preventive measures are proposed to counteract the identified risk factors.