Dr. Angela Cheung heads up a network of scientists and health practitioners studying long covid. She’s also a senior physician-scientist at University Health Network in…
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Topic: cognitive issuesView all posts for the topic: cognitive issues
Long covid may cause cognitive decline of about six IQ points, study finds
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.
Comments closedTopic: cognitive issuesView all posts for the topic: cognitive issues
Mounting research shows that COVID-19 leaves its mark on the brain, including with significant drops in IQ scores
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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Solving the puzzle of Long Covid
Comments closedPreventing infections and reinfections is the best way to prevent Long Covid and should remain the foundation of public health policy. A greater commitment to nonpharmaceutical interventions, which include masking, especially in high-risk settings, and improved air quality through filtration and ventilation, are requisite. Updating building codes to require mitigation against airborne pathogens and ensure safer indoor air should be treated with the same seriousness afforded to mitigation of risks from earthquakes and other natural hazards. Reducing the risk of serious outcomes after COVID-19 and some prevention of Long Covid can be attained with vaccination of a wider spectrum of the population.
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Irish scientists discover why people with long Covid can suffer ‘brain fog’
The reason why people with long Covid can suffer from “brain fog” has been discovered by Irish scientists.
The breakthrough has profound importance for the understanding of brain fog and cognitive decline seen in some patients with the condition, according researchers at Trinity College Dublin.
It brings the possibility of new treatments for the condition, but also for other neurodegenerative illnesses such as multiple sclerosis (MS), they said.
The research, published in Nature Neuroscience on Thursday, shows disruption to the integrity of blood vessels in the brains of patients suffering from long Covid and brain fog.
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Long Covid ‘brain fog’ may be due to leaky blood-brain barrier, study finds
From forgetfulness to difficulties concentrating, many people who have long Covid experience “brain fog”. Now researchers say the symptom could be down to the blood-brain barrier becoming leaky.
The barrier controls which substances or materials enter and exit the brain. “It’s all about regulating a balance of material in blood compared to brain,” said Prof Matthew Campbell, co-author of the research at Trinity College Dublin.
“If that is off balance then it can drive changes in neural function and if this happens in brain regions that allow for memory consolidation/storage then it can wreak havoc.”
Writing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Campbell and colleagues report how they analysed serum and plasma samples from 76 patients who were hospitalised with Covid in March or April 2020, as well 25 people before the pandemic.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Study shows 43% to 58% lower prevalence of long COVID among vaccinated people
A new study based on 4,605 participants in the Michigan COVID-19 Recovery Surveillance Study shows that the prevalence of long COVID symptoms at 30 and 90 days post-infection was 43% to 58% lower among adults who were fully vaccinated before infection.
The study appeared yesterday in the Annals of Epidemiology.
The 30- and 90-day timeframes were meant to compare two different definitions of long COVID. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines the condition as new or persistent symptoms 4 weeks after infection, while the World Health Organization definition defines it as 12 or more weeks after infection.
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Long COVID rates vary significantly by state. See where California ranks
About a quarter of U.S. adults who had COVID-19 during the past four years endured persistent symptoms lasting at least three months following their infection. But the prevalence of long COVID varied significantly by state, with California having a relatively low incidence compared to the national average, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Long COVID encompasses over 200 symptoms that can last for months or even years after a coronavirus infection, including extreme fatigue, brain fog, heart palpitations, sexual dysfunction or digestive disorders.
The CDC’s breakdown of long COVID hotspots revealed a clear correlation between areas with higher rates of persistent symptoms and those with the greatest skepticism about the pandemic, per research from the National Institutes of Health.
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COVID patients are 4.3 times more likely to develop chronic fatigue, CDC report finds
COVID-19 patients are at least four times more likely to develop chronic fatigue than someone who has not had the virus, a new federal study published Wednesday suggests.
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looked at electronic health records from the University of Washington of more than 4,500 patients with confirmed COVID-19 between February 2020 and February 2021.
They were followed for a median of 11.4 months and their health data was compared with the data of more than 9,000 non-COVID-19 patients with similar characteristics.
Fatigue developed in 9% of the COVID patients, the team found. Among COVID-19 patients, the rate of new cases of fatigue was 10.2 per 100 person-years and the rate of new cases of chronic fatigue was 1.8 per 100 person-years.
Comments closedTopic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia
Protect Our Province masking message on New West billboard takes aim at COVID
The pandemic has highlighted the lasting health impacts viruses can have, long after the acute infection is over and done with.
Many viruses, not just Covid, play a role in causing more serious long-term diseases. Epstein- Barr Virus (EBV), the mononucleosis or kissing disease virus, is associated with Multiple Sclerosis.
Recently, B.C. rolled out an at home self-test for Human Papilloma Virus, that’s because HPV can cause throat and cervical cancer.
After the Great Influenza of 1918, it took us years to learn that children born in and around that time were later at higher risk for Parkinson’s disease (remember Robert De Niro in the movie Awakenings), not to mention cardiac disease and diabetes.
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Topic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia
BC’s pandemic budget may “wind down” in 2024
BC’s budget and fiscal report covers a “three year fiscal plan” for housing, sustainability, and healthcare. The report states, “As the funding for pandemic contingencies are set to wind down by the end of 2023/24, it is anticipated that the Ministry of Health will wind down or integrate any services into ministry operations, as appropriate, to support the ongoing health and well-being of British Columbians.”
The report did not elaborate, and The Peak reached out to the Ministry of Health for more information, who said they “will have an update to share following the release of the 2024/25 budget at the end of next month.”
DoNoHarm BC, who advocates for safer COVID-19 protections in the province, is concerned about the effects a potential budget cut could have for residents and provides a series of recommendations.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Why So Quiet about Long COVID?
Comments closedIt is a constant deluge of pain that slowly strips you of everything you used to be by taking away everything you used to do — daily exercise, going out more nights than not, seeing friends, attending concerts.
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Study: Cognitive slowing is associated with long COVID
In an attempt to establish a definitive objective cognitive marker for PCC, or post-COVID-19 condition, researchers tested long COVID patients in Germany and the United Kingdom with cognitive speed tests, and found long COVID patients have a significant lag, suggesting cognitive slowing.
The study, published yesterday in eClincialMedicine, was based on findings on an initial 194 long COVID patient seen at a PCC clinic in Germany. Findings were then replicated in a follow up COVID clinic in the United Kingdom.
All study participants had one or more symptoms of PCC at least 12 weeks following a lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection. They were compared to two control groups, one group that had never had a COVID-19 infection and one group that had COVID-19 12 or more weeks prior but no evidence of PCC.
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Bernie Sanders: US is turning its back on long COVID. We’ll pay the price if we don’t act.
As all of us know, the COVID-19 pandemic was the worst public health crisis in more than a century. Since the first cases four years ago, well more than 100 million Americans have gotten the virus, more than 6.7 million Americans have been hospitalized and more than 1 million Americans have died.
More Americans have died from COVID-19 than were killed during World War II.
The pandemic created the most painful economic downturn since the Great Depression, disrupted the education of our young people and increased isolation, anxiety and mental illness.
I am more than aware that many Americans are tired of hearing about COVID-19 and would like to sweep it under the rug. Unfortunately, the virus is not done with us.
Comments closedTopic: United KingdomView all posts for the topic: United Kingdom
‘The NHS sold out its staff’: Doctors whose lives were devastated by long COVID to sue health service
Hundreds of doctors are planning to sue the NHS over claims inadequate PPE on the frontline has left them with long COVID, disabled, and in financial ruin.
Dr Kelly Fearnley, 37, was working on a COVID ward at Bradford Royal Infirmary in November 2020 when she caught coronavirus.
More than three years later, the effects of long COVID mean she is still unable to work. After episodes of violent shakes, hallucinations, and a resting heart rate more than double the average, she was diagnosed with limbic encephalitis – inflammation of parts of the brain.
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New long COVID study uncovers high inflammation in patients as Senate calls for more research on ‘crisis’
Comments closedThe burden of disease and disability from long COVID is on par with the burden of cancer and heart disease. We must develop sustainable solutions to prevent repeated infections with SARS-CoV-2 and long COVID that would be embraced by the public.