COVID-19 cognitive effects may age patients’ brains by 10 years

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Survivors of COVID-19 infections may manifest substantial cognitive impairment tantamount to the average 10-year decline in performance between 20 and 70 years of age, says a new Imperial College London research.
• The study, which has yet to undergo peer review, revealed that 84,285 participants showed significant cognitive deficits especially in the severe cases after taking a cognitive assessment test.
• Cognitive tests are used to assess brain performance in terms of thinking, memory, language and judgment.

New research warns of increasing evidence that there may be significant brain impairment in many cases of COVID-19 survivors where the brain ages by 10 years.

According to a non-peer-reviewed study led by Dr. Adam Hampshire of Imperial College London that involved over 84,000 people, coronavirus infection may be associated with substantial neurologic consequences particularly among the most severe cases.

“People who had recovered, including those no longer reporting symptoms, exhibited significant cognitive deficits,” wrote the researchers in their findings report.

Cognitive tests check for problems with cognition which includes thinking, memory, language, judgment, and the ability to learn new things. Such assessments are used in diseases like Alzheimer’s to evaluate brain performance as well as aid doctors in determining temporary brain impairments.

Results from 84,285 people who accomplished the Great British Intelligence Test indicated that people who had been hospitalized with the worst cases of COVID-19 showed impacts commensurate with “the average 10-year decline in global performance between the ages of 20 to 70.”

However, the findings, which still need to be reviewed by other scientists, should be treated with caution, says experts not directly involved with the study.

“The cognitive function of the participants was not known pre-COVID, and the results also do not reflect long-term recovery – so any effects on cognition may be short term,” said Edinburgh University Applied Neuroimaging Professor Joanna Wardlaw.

Derek Hill of the University College London also suggested that the outcomes may not be entirely dependable since the study included people who self-reported being infected with COVID-19 without positive test results as well as failure to compare before and after scores.

“Overall (this is) an intriguing but inconclusive piece of research into the effect of COVID on the brain,” said Hill.

Further, he stressed that to better understand the long-term effects of COVID, it is essential to investigate the full extent to which cognition is impacted after infection and whether permanent brain damage actually occurs in some people.

Study findings were published on the MedRxiv website. 

Source: AOL.com