Individualized, Goal-Oriented Cognitive Rehab Beneficial for Long COVID

THURSDAY, July 9, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For adults with long COVID-related cognitive impairment, individualized, goal-oriented cognitive rehabilitation (CR) leads to significant and sustained improvements in goal attainment, according to a study published online July 1 in JAMA Network Open.Martina Vanova, Ph.D., from the University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, and colleagues conducted a multicenter, single-blind, parallel-group randomized clinical trial at three sites in England to examine the ability of CR to improve goal attainment, cognitive, and clinical outcomes in individuals with cognitive impairment as part of long COVID. Participants aged 30 to 60 years with prior COVID-19 infection and objective cognitive impairment were randomly assigned to CR, consisting of 10 individual one-hour sessions conducted once per week, applying evidence-based strategies to three individually selected, personally meaningful functional goals, or to treatment as usual (TAU).Seventy-eight participants were randomly assigned to CR and TAU (38 and 40, respectively). The researchers found that goal attainment was significantly greater in the CR group versus the TAU group at three months after randomization (adjusted mean difference, 2.88), with a large and clinically meaningful treatment effect provided by CR. At six months, the effect size was lower but the significant difference was sustained (adjusted mean difference, 1.72)."As this program is based on established cognitive rehabilitation techniques that have been used for other conditions, we hope that it can be easily rolled out as a treatment option for people currently living with long COVID," joint senior author Aida Suarez-Gonzalez, Ph.D., also from the University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, said in a statement.Abstract/Full Text.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Individualized, Goal-Oriented Cognitive Rehab Beneficial for Long COVID

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