This was revealed by a study that compared the effects of severe Covid on patients’ cognitive function, detecting effects similar to aging from 50 to 70 years.
We all know Covid can lead to fatigue and persistent symptoms, but a new study, one of the most rigorous on the long-term cognitive impacts of the virus, has just produced disturbing results. The researchers found that the impact of Covid on the brain, six months after a severe form of the disease, it can be equivalent to 20 years of aging, or the loss of 10 IQ points. “Cognitive impairment is common to a wide range of neurological disorders, including dementia and even routine aging, but the patterns we have seen – Covid’s cognitive ‘fingerprint’ – were distinct from all of these. – said neuroscientist David of the University of Cambridge in the UK, senior author of the study.
The research, published in the journal eClinical Medicine, does not want to alarm the many who have already had Covid, but the data shows that many people have cognitive problems after many months. “Tens of thousands of people have undergone intensive care with Covid in England alone and many others will have been very ill but not hospitalized – said lead researcher and cognitive scientist Adam Hampshire of Imperial College London -. We urgently need to look at what can be done to help these people”.
The impact of Covid serious on the brain
The test involved 46 Covid patients from Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge in between March and July 2020, of which 16 underwent mechanical ventilation during their hospital stay. Six months after their infection, the researchers evaluated the patients using a testing tool called Cognitronto analyze their abilities in areas such as memory, attention, reasoning, as well as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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The results were compared to a matched control group of 460 people and mapped to see how far they differed from expected scores by age, demographics, based on 66,008 members of the general public.
The results showed that the extent of cognitive loss in those recovered from severe Covid is similar to the effects of aging between 50 and 70 years, and is equivalent to the loss of 10 IQ points. The data also showed that severe Covid survivors had slower response times and less accuracy verbal analogy tasks – where people are asked to find similarities with words.
Interestingly, although patients have reported different levels of fatigue and depression, how the severity of the initial infection, rather than the person’s current state of mental health, can best predict cognitive outcome, the team found. “These findings indicate that although both fatigue and mental health are [conseguenze] major chronic diseases of Covid, their severity is likely to be somewhat independent of the cognitive deficits observedThe researchers write in their paper.
The causes of cognitive decline
It is not yet fully understood why the infection causes this cognitive decline. Previous research has indicated that during severe Covid, the brain reduces glucose consumption in the frontoparietal networkwhich is involved in attention, problem solving, and working memory.
It is also known that the virus can directly affect the brain. But the researchers suggest that the likely culprit isn’t direct infection, but a combination of factors, including reduced oxygen or blood supply to the brain, clotting problems, and microscopic bleeding. There is also mounting evidence that the immune and inflammatory response of the body can have a significant impact on the brain. “Future work will focus on mapping these cognitive deficits to underlying neural pathologies, inflammatory biomarkers, and longitudinal monitoring of recovery in the chronic phase.”.