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Microbes & Immunity Physiological and cognitive effects of PASC

Figure 1. Outline of the sequential steps in our research process, including data collection and analysis
Abbreviations: HIPAA: Health insurance portability and accountability Act; IRB: Institutional review board.

All participants provided informed consent before the
study and were informed about the aims and purposes.
An internal institutional review board has reviewed and
approved the research proposal and data privacy measures.
In adherence to ethical guidelines, trigger warnings were
implemented before survey sections containing potentially
distressing content.

The 64 questions assessed 14 symptoms, categorized
into physiological and cognitive domains. The
physiological category encompassed breathlessness,
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cranial nerve dysfunction, cough, anosmia, dysgeusia,
fatigue, sleep, and throat sensitivity. The cognitive category
contained suicidal thoughts, depression, behavior, stress,
working memory, and fibromyalgia (Table 1). These specific
symptoms were included to provide a comprehensive
view of each category and to corroborate findings with
previous studies. The primary focus of this study is to
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Figure 2. Participant eligibility pipeline, outlining the process to eliminate gain a more in-depth understanding of brain fog. Hence,
biases associated with pre-existing health conditions we explored the impact of PACS on working memory,
as well as the psychological impact. Demographics,
due to the exploratory nature of this research and the including location, age, ethnicity, and vaccination status,
constraints associated with participant recruitment. were collected to observe patterns between symptoms
Validation of present findings requires further larger experienced and an individual’s demographic information
sample study. (Tables 2 and S1, Figures S1-S3).

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2025) 108 doi: 10.36922/mi.8545