Background: The rapid expansion and severity of the COVID-19 contagion has had negative physical and psychological health implications for millions of people around the world, but even more so among children and adolescents. Given the severity of the situation and the small number of studies on the direct influence of viral infection on the cognitive development within adolescents, the present study aims at understanding the consequences of contracting the virus and being hospitalized in relation to cognitive functioning, in particular, for executive functioning, among adolescents. Methods: To all subjects included in the sample, divided into four groups based on the severity of the COVID-19 infection, were administered the WISC-IV in order to evaluate the global cognitive functioning, and subsequently, the subtests Courses and Tower of London (ToL), both part of the BVN 12–18, were administered for the evaluation of executive operation. Results: Our analyses showed that between subjects who did not contract the viral infection and those who contracted it in an asymptomatic form, there are no significant differences in cognitive functioning, but only in executive functioning. Furthermore, in both hospitalized and non-hospitalized subjects, we found lower scores especially for WM skills, while IQ scores are in a medium range. Conclusion: the present study shows that contracting the viral infection and, thus, being hospitalized, caused greater problems and difficulties as compared to those who were not hospitalized, impacting global cognitive (and executive) functioning, especially the WM. We believe that these results could allow an early detection of alterations in cognitive and executive functioning, a fundamental aspect of the interventions that occur in evolutionary phases such as those related to pre-adolescence, allowing, therefore, the activation of functional recovery pathways in a short time.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 对青少年认知发展和执行功能的影响：首次探索性调查

背景：COVID-19 传染病的迅速扩大和严重程度对全世界数百万人的身心健康产生了负面影响，对儿童和青少年的影响更甚。鉴于情况的严重性以及关于病毒感染对青少年认知发展的直接影响的研究数量很少，本研究旨在了解感染病毒和住院与认知功能相关的后果，特别是，执行功能，在青少年中。方法：样本中的所有受试者根据 COVID-19 感染的严重程度分为四组，接受 WISC-IV 以评估整体认知功能，随后，子测试课程和伦敦塔 (ToL) 都是 BVN 12-18 的一部分，用于评估执行操作。结果：我们的分析表明，在未感染病毒感染的受试者和以无症状形式感染病毒的受试者之间，认知功能没有显着差异，仅在执行功能上存在显着差异。此外，在住院和非住院受试者中，我们发现尤其是 WM 技能的分数较低，而 IQ 分数处于中等范围内。结论：本研究表明，与未住院的人相比，感染病毒并因此住院会造成更大的问题和困难，影响整体认知（和执行）功能，尤其是 WM。