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Microbes & Immunity

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Severity and duration of post-acute sequelae

of SARS-CoV-2 infection symptoms: Focus on
physiological and cognitive effects

Rohan Melwani , Keerthana Noru, Sanya Kondapalli, Ameya Ravi,
Saanvi Shah , Shashank Sashtry, Shreeya Setty, and Sahar Jahanikia*
Jahanikia Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Aspiring Scholars
Directed Research Program, Fremont, California, United States of America
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Immune Responses to Pulmonary Infections)

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, has impacted the
health of millions globally, with many individuals experiencing persistent symptoms
even after testing negative, a condition known as post-acute sequelae of SARS-
CoV-2 infection (PASC), or long COVID. This study analyzes demographic influences
on the severity and duration of PASC symptoms, with an emphasis on physiological
and cognitive effects. Using a self-reporting survey method, data were collected
from a sample of 110 participants and analyzed using statistical methods such as
exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and two-factor analysis of variance.
The participants were primarily based in California, and a majority of them were
*Corresponding author:
Sahar Jahanikia ethnically Asian. The study found that females generally reported higher severity
(sahar.jahanikia@asdrp.org) of cognitive and physiological symptoms compared to males, while symptom
Citation: Melwani R, Noru K, severity was generally lower among vaccinated individuals. Correlation analysis
Kondapalli S, et al. Severity and revealed a significant relationship between depression and cognitive impairments,
duration of post-acute sequelae of underscoring the psychological impact of PASC. This study emphasizes the
SARS-CoV-2 infection symptoms:
Focus on physiological and complexity of PASC, demonstrating how demographic characteristics such as age,
cognitive effects. Microbes & gender, and vaccination status influence the severity and duration of symptoms,
Immunity. 2025;2(2):106-117. thereby contributing to the growing understanding of PASC. Further research should
doi: 10.36922/mi.8545
consider SARS-CoV-2 variant-specific impacts and broader population samples.
Received: January 15, 2025
Revised: February 23, 2025 Keywords: COVID-19; Long COVID; PASC; Brain fog; Symptoms; COVID severity; COVID
Accepted: March 10, 2025 duration; Vaccination
Published online: April 21, 2025
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s).
This is an Open-Access article 1. Introduction
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has led to a global health
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, crisis, affecting millions of individuals worldwide. As of June 2024, over 776 million
provided the original work is cases and 7 million deaths have been reported globally, as regularly updated by the World
properly cited. Health Organization. While most individuals recover from COVID-19 without long-
1
Publisher’s Note: AccScience term complications, a significant subset experience persistent symptoms, a condition
Publishing remains neutral with known as long COVID or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). PASC
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional represents a diverse set of symptoms, including cognitive dysfunction (e.g., brain fog),
affiliations. fatigue, respiratory distress, joint pain, and other neurological symptoms, which can

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2025) 106 doi: 10.36922/mi.8545