Brain scans noticed changes in most elderly after COVID infection
"Brain scans before and after infection showed more loss of gray matter and tissue damage,
mostly in areas related to smell, in people who had Covid than in those who did not" NYT March 7
Covid May Cause Changes in the Brain, New Study Finds NYT March 7
SARS-CoV-2 is associated with changes in brain structure in UK Biobank - Nature March 5
Nature (2022) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04569-5
Gwenaëlle Douaud, Soojin Lee, Fidel Alfaro-Almagro, Christoph Arthofer, Chaoyue Wang, Paul McCarthy, Frederik Lange, Jesper L. R. Andersson, Ludovica Griffanti, Eugene Duff, Saad Jbabdi, Bernd Taschler, Peter Keating, Anderson M. Winkler, Rory Collins, Paul M. Matthews, Naomi Allen, Karla L. Miller, Thomas E. Nichols & Stephen M. Smith
Brain scans very different in those who had COVID infection
Task: Quickly draw a line between the circles: 1, A, 2, B, 3, C, 4, D, etc.
Those who were infected completed task much slower
There is strong evidence for brain-related abnormalities in COVID-19 1–13. It remains unknown however whether the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection can be detected in milder cases, and whether this can reveal possible mechanisms contributing to brain pathology. Here, we investigated brain changes in 785 UK Biobank participants (aged 51–81) imaged twice, including 401 cases who tested positive for infection with SARS-CoV-2 between their two scans, with 141 days on average separating their diagnosis and second scan, and 384 controls.
The availability of pre-infection imaging data reduces the likelihood of pre-existing risk factors being misinterpreted as disease effects. We identified significant longitudinal effects when comparing the two groups, including:
(i) greater reduction in grey matter thickness and tissue-contrast in the orbitofrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus,
(ii) greater changes in markers of tissue damage in regions functionally-connected to the primary olfactory cortex, and
(iii) greater reduction in global brain size.
The infected participants also showed on average larger cognitive decline between the two timepoints. Importantly, these imaging and cognitive longitudinal effects were still seen after excluding the 15 cases who had been hospitalised. These mainly limbic brain imaging results may be the in vivo hallmarks of a degenerative spread of the disease via olfactory pathways, of neuroinflammatory events, or of the loss of sensory input due to anosmia. Whether this deleterious impact can be partially reversed, or whether these effects will persist in the long term, remains to be investigated with additional follow up
📄 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
Some related studies on the web
Fatigue and cognitive impairment in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis - March 2022
- 22% had cognitive imparement 📄 PDF
Anticipated Long-Term Cognitive Impairment Following Covid-19 Recovery in Elderly Patients - Feb 2022 📄 PDF
VitaminDWiki - both categories Virus and Cognitive
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Brain Plasticity can probably help (computer program, vitamin D, etc.)
VitaminDWiki pages with BRAIN PLASTICITY in title
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