Severe coronavirus could result in cognitive impairment that is equivalent to 20 years of aging or the loss of 10 IQ points, a recent study suggests.
University of Cambridge and Imperial College London researchers published their findings in the journal eClinicalMedicine last week. The data they observed from 46 individuals who received care at a hospital for COVID-19 between March and July 2020 and compared them to a match control group.
Cognitive Impairment of COVID-19
The researchers invited the patients and the control group six months after their stay in the hospital to undergo a computerized test to measure their memory, attention, and reasoning. They found that when comparing the two groups, the former, who had been hospitalized with COVID-19, were less accurate and displayed slower response times in the test.
Dr. David Menon of the University of Cambridge, who is the senior author of the study, said in a news release published last Tuesday that cognitive impairment is common in a wide range of neurological disorders. This includes dementia and routine aging. However, he noted that the cognitive "fingerprint" of COVID-19 was unique, as per CTVNews.
The individuals who previously got infected with the coronavirus infection scored especially poorly on verbal analogical reasoning. Furthermore, those who had severe cases of COVID-19 were found to be more likely to do poorly on such tests.
The study comes with mounting evidence that shows COVID-19 infection can cause long-term cognitive and mental health issues. This includes effects on recovered patients that reported symptoms of fatigue, "brain fog," difficulty recalling words, sleep disturbances, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) months after infection.
According to SciTechDaily, in a separate study in the United Kingdom, researchers found that one in every seven people surveyed reported experiencing symptoms such as cognitive difficulties after 12 weeks from a positive COVID-19 test.
Rigorous Study
The recent study marks the first time that such a rigorous type of assessment and comparison has been carried out in relation to the long-term effects of severe coronavirus. The researchers compared the results of the patients to 66,008 members of the general public and estimated that the magnitude of cognitive loss was on average similar to what is experienced when aging from 50 to 70 years old.
While the scores and reactions of the patients involved in the study began to improve over time, the researchers found that any recovery in cognitive faculties observed was at best gradual and likely to be influenced by a number of factors. This includes illness severity and its neurological or psychological impacts.
Menon noted that it was highly probable that the effects on the individuals' cognitive functions may never fully recover. There are a number of factors that play a role in the observed effects of severe COVID-19, including bleeding, low oxygen or blood flow to the brain, clotting, and the body's own immune system.
Despite the results of the study, there are still many questions left unanswered regarding the overall effects of the coronavirus infection on patients. Another study previously found that roughly 30% of COVID-19 patients were suffering from the effects of long-COVID, the Jerusalem Post reported.
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