Tag: brain damage

Published by: CBC Radio | Quirks and Quarks
Published on: April 12, 2024
By Amanda Buckiewicz

When COVID-19 first reared its head back in 2019, it brought with it a slew of strange symptoms beyond just respiratory problems. One of the most puzzling symptoms in those early days was something called “brain fog” — cognitive issues like confusion, forgetfulness, and trouble focusing.

And while other symptoms have changed as the virus mutated, brain fog is still a common complaint of COVID sufferers not only during the initial illness, but extending for months or even years afterwards. Several recent studies have been trying to understand exactly what this virus is doing to our brains — and how to stop it.

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cognitive decline

COVID Linked to Lower IQ, Poor Memory and Other Negative Impacts on Brain Health

Published March 24, 2024

Published by: People
Published on: March 24, 2024
By Erin Clack

Taken together, these studies show that COVID-19 poses a serious risk to brain health, even in mild cases, and the effects are now being revealed at the population level. […]

The growing body of research now confirms that COVID-19 should be considered a virus with a significant impact on the brain. The implications are far-reaching, from individuals experiencing cognitive struggles to the potential impact on populations and the economy.

— Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly

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cognitive issues

COVID’s toll on the brain: new clues emerge

Published March 20, 2024

Published by: Nature
Published on: March 20, 2024
By Claudia López Lloreda

Loss of smell, headaches, memory problems: COVID-19 can bring about a troubling storm of neurological symptoms that make everyday tasks difficult. Now new research adds to the evidence that inflammation in the brain might underlie these symptoms.

Not all data point in the same direction. Some new studies suggest that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, directly infects brain cells. Those findings bolster the hypothesis that direct infection contributes to COVID-19-related brain problems. But the idea that brain inflammation is key has gotten fresh support: one study, for example, has identified specific brain areas prone to inflammation in people with COVID-19.

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measles

Doctors urge myth-busting, education to counter misinformation as measles cases rise

Published March 15, 2024

Published by: The Canadian Press
Published on: March 15, 2024
By Camille Bains

It was a horrible thing to see this young girl who was brain dead. She died in that hospital. We were told that one in 1,000 people who got measles had a serious complication and one in 10,000 could die. You think that’s pretty rare but millions of kids got it before vaccination. So even though the percentage was low the absolute numbers were considerable.

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cognitive decline

Des déclins cognitifs constatés après une infection à la COVID-19

Published March 7, 2024

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: March 7, 2024
By Mélanie Meloche-Holubowski

Scientific evidence about the long-term effects of COVID-19 continues to accumulate. Two new studies involving hundreds of thousands of people suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infections can cause cognitive decline.

Researchers at Imperial College, London recruited nearly 113,000 Britons previously infected with the COVID-19 virus for their study. These individuals engaged in various cognitive exercises to assess their memory and their faculties of concentration and attention. Their results were compared to those of people never infected.

The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that the coronavirus is believed to impair cognitive abilities and the intelligence quotient (IQ).

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cognitive issues

Long covid may cause cognitive decline of about six IQ points, study finds

Published February 29, 2024

Published by: The Washington Post
Published on: February 29, 2024
By Victoria Bisset

It’s more than four years since the first cases of covid-19 were identified — but many of its longer-term effects, including for those living with long covid, remain unclear.

Now, a new study has some worrying findings that suggest covid may have longer-term effects on cognition and memory — and that these lead to measurable differences in cognitive performance.

The study, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that participants who recovered from covid symptoms had a cognitive deficit equivalent to three IQ points compared with those who were never infected, while participants suffering from unresolved covid symptoms lasting 12 weeks or more experienced a loss equivalent to six IQ points.

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cognitive issues

Mounting research shows that COVID-19 leaves its mark on the brain, including with significant drops in IQ scores

Published February 28, 2024

Published by: The Conversation
Published on: February 28, 2024
By Ziyad Al-Aly

From the very early days of the pandemic, brain fog emerged as a significant health condition that many experience after COVID-19.

Brain fog is a colloquial term that describes a state of mental sluggishness or lack of clarity and haziness that makes it difficult to concentrate, remember things and think clearly.

Fast-forward four years and there is now abundant evidence that being infected with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – can affect brain health in many ways.

In addition to brain fog, COVID-19 can lead to an array of problems, including headaches, seizure disorders, strokes, sleep problems, and tingling and paralysis of the nerves, as well as several mental health disorders.

A large and growing body of evidence amassed throughout the pandemic details the many ways that COVID-19 leaves an indelible mark on the brain. But the specific pathways by which the virus does so are still being elucidated, and curative treatments are nonexistent.

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brain damage

Ongoing brain injury caused by COVID-19 may not always be detected by routine tests

Published January 2, 2024

Published by: King’s College London
Published on: January 2, 2024

A new study published recently in Nature Communications details that markers of brain injury are present in the blood many months after COVID-19 infection, despite inflammation blood tests being normal.

The COVID-CNS study analysed samples from over 800 patients hospitalised with COVID-19 from across England and Wales, half of whom with new neurological conditions. Here researchers measured brain injury markers, serum inflammatory proteins (cytokines), antibodies, and brain (neuroglial) injury proteins.

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brain damage

Brain damage caused by COVID-19 may not show up on routine tests, study finds

Published December 27, 2023

Published by: Salon
Published on: December 27, 2023
By Matthew Rozsa

Our study shows that markers of brain injury are present in the blood months after COVID-19, and particularly in those who have had a COVID-19-induced brain complication (e.g. inflammation, or stroke), despite resolution of the inflammatory response in the blood. This suggests the possibility of ongoing inflammation and injury inside the brain itself which may not be detected by blood tests for inflammation.

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Alzheimer’s disease

COVID-19 linked to a greater risk of Alzheimer’s, other disorders

Published December 27, 2023

Published by: The Asahi Shimbun
Published on: December 27, 2023
By Tokiko Tsuji

Another long-term effect of the novel coronavirus appears to be a higher chance of patients contracting Alzheimer’s disease in the years to follow, according to the latest research.

Numerous large research projects overseas have shown a link between COVID-19 and cognitive disorders, along with Alzheimer’s.

“The novel coronavirus is a new risk factor for dementia,” said Takayoshi Shimohata, a neurology professor at Gifu University, who also serves on the health ministry’s editorial committee that compiles a manual for treating COVID-19’s aftereffects. “There needs to be greater understanding that the illness also affects the brain.”

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cognitive issues

Small study finds brain alterations after COVID Omicron infection

Published December 4, 2023

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: December 4, 2023
By Mary Van Beusekom

Researchers in China report thinning of the gray matter and other changes in certain parts of the brain in 61 men after COVID-19 Omicron infection.

For the study, published late last week in JAMA Network Open, the researchers evaluated 61 men before and after infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in January 2023. The men had been part of a larger cohort who had undergone magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuropsychiatric screenings before infection in August and September 2022. Average age was 43 years.

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long COVID

MRI study spotlights impact of long COVID on the brain

Published November 22, 2023

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: November 22, 2023
By Stephanie Soucheray

A new study comparing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images of patients with long COVID, fully recovered COVID-19 survivors, and healthy controls shows microstructural changes in different brain regions in the long-COVID patients. The findings will be presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

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The eighth COVID-19 wave is here. Could catching it trigger Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or autoimmune disorders?

neurodegenerative diseases

The eighth COVID-19 wave is here. Could catching it trigger Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or autoimmune disorders?

Published November 21, 2023

Published by: ABC News
Published on: November 21, 2023
By Catherine Taylor

From the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have raised concerns about the potential for long-term health problems linked to SARS-CoV-2 and warned repeated infections are likely to increase the risk.

An association between COVID and cardiovascular disease emerged quickly.

And now — almost exactly four years since the first case was discovered in Wuhan — a growing body of scientific research is cautiously linking the inflammation caused by a COVID infection to diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s as well as autoimmune conditions from bowel disease to rheumatoid arthritis.

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cognitive issues

Can’t Think, Can’t Remember: More Americans Say They’re in a Cognitive Fog

Published November 13, 2023

Published by: The New York Times
Published on: November 13, 2023
By Francesca Paris

There are more Americans who say they have serious cognitive problems — with remembering, concentrating or making decisions — than at any time in the last 15 years, data from the Census Bureau shows.

The increase started with the pandemic: The number of working-age adults reporting “serious difficulty” thinking has climbed by an estimated one million people.

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cognitive issues

SARS-CoV-2 virus found to migrate within neurons and infect the brain

Published October 27, 2023

Published by: Medical Xpress
Published on: October 27, 2023
By Pasteur Institute

The emergence of different variants of SARS-CoV-2 has produced a wide range of clinical profiles and symptoms in patients. For the first time, researchers at the Institut Pasteur and Université Paris Cité have demonstrated, in an animal model, a characteristic common to several SARS-CoV-2 variants: the ability to infect the central nervous system.

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long COVID

Long Covid: MRI scans reveal new clues to symptoms

Published September 23, 2023

Published by: BBC
Published on: September 23, 2023
By Dominic Hughes

People living with long Covid after being admitted to hospital are more likely to show some damage to major organs, according to a new study.

MRI scans revealed patients were three times more likely to have some abnormalities in multiple organs such as the lungs, brain and kidneys.

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Ireland

More than 5% of Irish adults living with long Covid symptoms

Published September 4, 2023

Published by: The Irish Times
Published on: September 4, 2023
By Fiachra Gallagher

More than 5 per cent of adults in Ireland are living with symptoms of long Covid, according to a new survey.

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long COVID

High levels of 2 blood-clotting proteins may portend post-COVID brain fog

Published September 1, 2023

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: September 1, 2023
By Mary Van Beusekom

High levels of two blood biomarkers during infection could predict cognitive dysfunction, or “brain fog,” among COVID-19 survivors 6 and 12 months after hospitalization, according to a UK study published yesterday in Nature Medicine.

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