Journal Article

Objective cognitive performance and subjective complaints in patients with chronic Q fever or Q fever fatigue syndrome

Kessels, Roy P. C., Hautvast, Jeannine L. A., van Loenhout, Joris A. F., Reukers, Daphne F. M., van Jaarsveld, Cornelia H. M., Meyering, Birte, van der Velden, Koos, Aaronson, Justine

2020

Overview

Background Primary aim of this study was to compare cognitive performance of patients with chronic Q fever or Q fever fatigue syndrome (QFS) to matched controls from the general population, while taking performance validity into account. Second, we investigated whether objective cognitive performance was related to subjective cognitive complaints or psychological wellbeing. Methods Cognitive functioning was assessed with a neuropsychological test battery measuring the domains of processing speed, episodic memory, working memory and executive functioning. Tests for performance validity and premorbid intelligence were also included. Validated questionnaires were administered to assess self-reported fatigue, depressive symptoms and cognitive complaints. Results In total, 30 patients with chronic Q fever, 32 with QFS and 35 controls were included. A high percentage of chronic Q fever patients showed poor performance validity (38%) compared to controls (14%, p  = 0.066). After exclusion of participants showing poor performance validity, no significant differences between patients and controls were found in the cognitive domains. QFS patients reported a high level of cognitive complaints compared to controls (41.2 vs 30.4, p  = 0.023). Cognitive complaints were not significantly related to cognitive performance in any of the domains for this patient group. Conclusions The high level of self-reported cognitive complaints in QFS patients does not indicate cognitive impairment. A large proportion of the chronic Q fever patients showed suboptimal mental effort during neuropsychological assessment. More research into the underlying explanations is needed. Our findings stress the importance of assessing cognitive functioning by neuropsychological examination including performance validity, rather than only measuring subjective cognitive complaints.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Adult / Age / Aged / Bacterial and fungal diseases / Bacterial endocarditis / Batteries / Care and treatment / Case-Control Studies / Cognition - physiology / Cognitive ability / Cognitive symptoms / Coxiella Burnetii / Coxiella burnetii - isolation & purification / Depression - diagnosis / Depression - etiology / Episodic memory / Executive function / Fatigue / Fatigue - diagnosis / Fatigue - etiology / Female / Health risk assessment / Humans / Infections / Infectious Diseases / Intelligence / Internal Medicine / Male / Medical Microbiology / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Memory / Memory, Episodic / Memory, Short-Term / Middle Aged / Neuropsychological test / Neuropsychological Tests / Parasitology / Patients / Performance validity / Post-infectious fatigue syndrome / Psychological factors / Q fever / Q Fever - complications / Q Fever - diagnosis / Q Fever - microbiology / Questionnaires / Questions and answers / Research Article / Short term memory / Studies / Tropical Medicine / Validity