A new survey shows that about half of patients who had severe symptoms from coronavirus infection have cognitive function disorders. Experts say the rate is higher than for other illnesses.

The Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine conducted a survey with patients who had been on ventilators at 32 hospitals in the country until the end of 2020. Two-hundred and nine former patients responded.

About 61 percent of them said that they still seem to have problems with memory and daily activities, even more than a year after they left the intensive care unit.

More than 53 percent of them say they have memory and other cognitive problems while almost 29 percent of them say they have mental problems such as depression.
Almost 19 percent of them say they feel short of breath when conducting daily activities and some of them have multiple problems.

Hatayama Junji of Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University who analyzed the data said early rehabilitation is vital to restore physical and cognitive abilities.