Scientists: prolonged COVID-19 can age the brain by 20 years

Prolonged COVID-19 can age the brain by 20 years. A team of scientists at the University of Liverpool has concluded that the effects of coronavirus disease are comparable to brain injury.

According to the study, published on the medical portal Medscare, "brain fogging" is one of the most common and persistent complaints in patients with protracted COVID-19. It affects up to 46 percent of patients who also complained of other mental problems such as memory loss and difficulty concentrating.

Researchers found that 351 patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 had signs of long-term brain injury one year after infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As part of the study, the participants underwent a cognitive test with age-matched results for those who had not suffered a severe COVID-19 attack. A blood sample was then taken to look for specific biomarkers, showing that elevated levels of some of them were consistent with brain injury. Using brain scans, the researchers also found that certain areas of the brain associated with attention were reduced in volume in these patients.

The patients in the study were "less accurate and slower" in their cognitive abilities and, according to the researchers, suffered from at least one mental health disorder such as depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Meanwhile, the deficit in brain activity found in COVID-19 patients was equivalent to 20 years of brain aging and was proof of what doctors feared: this virus can indeed damage the brain and lead to permanent mental health problems. According to lead study author Benedict Michael, director of the Laboratory of Infectious Neurology at the University of Liverpool, the cognitive and memory problems that patients complained of were linked to neuroanatomical changes in the brain.

Some patients with lingering COVID-19 said that their attempts to convince their doctors that they had a physical disease were a constant challenge throughout the pandemic, especially in terms of decreased brain activity. The study provides patients who have been overlooked by some doctors with proof that their illnesses are not figments of their imagination, concluded Carla Thompson, lead neuropsychologist at the COVID-19 recovery clinic at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.