Persistent Neurological Symptoms in Chronic Disease Patients After COVID-19 Infection in Jamaica: A Retrospective Cohort Study Exploring Clinical Manifestations of Long COVID in a Low and Middle Income Country.

Authors

Jacqueline P Duncan, Maria Jackson, Carol Jones Cooper, Joshua J Anzinger, Kelvin Ehikhametalor, Keri-Ann Facey, Gavin Cloherty, Marshall K Tulloch-Reid

Published in

Health science reports. Volume 9. Issue 7. Pages e72761. Epub Jul 07, 2026.

Abstract

There is uncertainty about the long term effects of COVID-19 infection. We describe the dominant reported symptoms and their sociodemographic risk factors in a sample of Jamaican patients with non-communicable diseases (NCD) and laboratory determined infection status.
A retrospective cohort study (February 20, 2023-September 12, 2023) of patients from the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) were identified through participation in the Caribbean COVID-19 Metabolic Health Study (CCMHS) or ICU admissions between March 2020 and March 2021 with a positive PCR. COVID-19 infection status was based on anti-nucleocapsid (anti-N) antibodies in those without PCR reports. Participants were classified as "Exposed" if they had positive anti-N antibodies or a positive PCR test and "Unexposed" if they had negative anti-N antibodies. Bivariate analyses compared current symptoms and quality of life of exposed and unexposed participants. Logistic regression explored factors associated with memory loss.
Eighty-six persons (62 exposed and 24 unexposed; mean age 54.1 ± 13.4 years; median "time since first COVID-19 diagnosis" 1.9 years) participated in the study. "Not [feeling] quite right" (59.3%), joint pains (46.5%), fatigue (45.4%), numbness/tingling (43.0%), headache (26.7%), and shortness of breath (23.3%) were the most common symptoms that were similarly reported in persons regardless of infection status. Memory loss was more common among exposed participants (41.9% vs. 12.5%, p = 0.01) and among those with COVID-19 infection, self-reported depression/anxiety increased the odds of this symptom (OR 6.7 (1.7-25.7).
Cardiopulmonary and musculoskeletal symptoms were common among NCD patients regardless of previous COVID-19 infection. However, memory loss was more common up to 2 years after initial COVID-19 infection. Prospective cohorts of long COVID in subpopulations are critical to elucidating its natural history.

PMID:
42422160
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 09 Jul 2026.

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