Peláez, IreneMartínez-Íñigo, DavidFernandes-Magalhaes, RobertoDe Lahoz, María Eugeniadel Pino, Ana BelénPérez-Aranda, SoniaGarcía-Romero, AlejandroSoldic, DinoMercado, Francisco2025-08-262025-08-262025-08-25Peláez, I., Martínez-Íñigo, D., Fernandes-Magalhaes, R., De Lahoz, M. E., del Pino, A. B., Pérez-Aranda, S., García-Romero, A., Soldic, D., & Mercado, F. (2025). One Year After Mild COVID-19: Emotional Distress but Preserved Cognition in Healthcare Workers. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 14(17), 6007. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm141760072077-0383https://hdl.handle.net/10115/98097Background/Objectives: Although COVID-19 may cause cognitive impairments for up to six months, the long-term effects of mild cases remain unclear. Given their high exposure and critical role in public health, assessing this impact on healthcare workers is essential. Aim: The present study aimed to examine the cognitive and emotional effects of mild COVID-19 in 92 healthcare workers one year after infection. Methods: In total, 50 had experienced mild COVID-19, while 42 had not been infected. Participants completed a neuropsychological assessment evaluating attention, memory, and executive functions, along with self-reported measures of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, occupational stress, and burnout. Results: No significant cognitive differences were observed between the groups. However, both exhibited moderate-to-severe psychological distress, with the COVID-19 group showing higher trait anxiety (p = 0.032). Emotional symptoms were significantly associated with neuropsychological performance—higher burnout (ρ from −0.20 to −0.28, p < 0.05) and stress (ρ from −0.25 to −0.33, p < 0.01) correlated with slower responses and more errors in tasks such as the D2 variation index, TESEN execution speed, Rey–Osterrieth Figure recall, and Digit Span forward span. Conclusions: These findings suggest no long-term cognitive impairment after mild COVID-19 but highlight the substantial emotional toll of the pandemic on healthcare workers. Future research should explore cognitive reserve as a protective factor.enAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/cognitionhealthcarelong-term effectsmild COVID-19neuropsychologyArticlehttps://doi.org/10.3390/ jcm14176007info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess