Comments closedOur 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.
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.”
Comments closedFour years ago, Sonja Mally was a busy tattoo artist with a photographic memory and penchant for long hikes.
Now, the 38-year-old Toronto woman considers it a good day if she can do a small drawing, muster the energy to walk around the block or “perform very basic tasks.”
“It’s a hard thing to have to explain to people why maybe one day you might be doing fine and the next day you can’t find the words to complete a sentence,” Mally said.
Comments closedResearchers 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.
Comments closedA 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.
Comments closedFrom 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.
Comments closedThere 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.
Comments closedThe 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.
Comments closedMore than 5 per cent of adults in Ireland are living with symptoms of long Covid, according to a new survey.
Comments closedHigh 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.
Comments closedMany people who have long COVID—a condition in which health issues persist months after infection—report struggling with “brain fog,” recurring memory and concentration lapses that make it difficult to function in everyday life. Now a new study has found these cognitive problems could result from blood clots triggered by infection, possibly through mechanisms like those that cause some types of dementia. These clots leave telltale protein signatures in blood, suggesting that testing for them could help predict, diagnose and possibly even treat long COVID.
Comments closedBlood clots in the brain or lungs may be responsible for certain symptoms of long COVID, including brain fog and fatigue, according to a new British study.
Comments closedDr. Carlos Hernandez is an assistant professor in Dalhousie University’s faculty of computer science. He hopes to contribute to long COVID research in collaboration with scientists at Western University in London, Ont., and the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City in a multi-year study assessing cognitive damage caused by the condition.
But there’s just one issue: He needs more participants in the Halifax area.
Comments closedComments closedOur findings highlight the substantial cumulative burden of health loss due to long COVID and emphasize the ongoing need for health care for those faced with long COVID. It appears that the effects of long COVID for many will not only impact such patients and their quality of life, but potentially will contribute to a decline in life expectancy and also may impact labor participation, economic productivity, and societal well-being.
People who survived Covid-19 early in the pandemic, before there were vaccines, continued to be at higher risk for a slew of health problems for up to two years after they got over their initial infections, compared to others who didn’t test positive, a new study finds, and that was especially true if they were hospitalized.
These health problems include heart problems, blood clots, diabetes, neurologic complications, fatigue and difficulties with mental health and have come to be known collectively as long Covid.
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