Mild COVID infection can cause attention and memory problems for months after recovery, new research suggests, the Daily Mail reported.

The findings, reported by researchers from the Oxford University, showed that people who had mild COVID infection but did not report long COVID symptoms still had worse attention and memory for up to six to nine months, the report said.

However, it was not known if similar effects were felt by those who had experienced no other issues after recovery from COVID-19.

"Our findings reveal that people can experience some chronic cognitive consequences for months," Zhao said.

While they performed well in short-term working memory and planning compared with the control group, the participants scored significantly worse in their memory of past events and in their ability to sustain attention over time.

All the participants had previously suffered from COVID-19 and were similar to the control group in factors such as fatigue, forgetfulness, sleep patterns or anxiety at the time of testing, the report said.

The research was conducted by psychologists at Oxford's Department of Experimental Psychology and Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences.

(This story was published from a syndicated feed. Only the headline and picture has been edited by FIT)