With more than 18 months of the pandemic in the rearview mirror, researchers have been constantly gathering important new knowledge about the effects of the COVID-19 in the body and brain; In fact, mild COVID can affect the brain.
These findings are raising concerns about the long-term impacts the coronavirus could have on biological processes such as aging.
The research focused on understanding how normal brain changes related to aging. They affect people’s ability to think and move, especially in middle age and beyond.
But as more evidence emerged showing that the COVID-19 virus could affect the body and brain for months or more after infection. The research team was interested in exploring how it might affect the natural aging process as well.
Observing the brain’s response to COVID-19
In August 2021, a preliminary but large-scale study investigating brain changes in people who had experienced COVID-19. It attracted a lot of attention within the neuroscience community.
In that study, the researchers drew on an existing database called the UK Biobank. Which contains brain imaging data from more than 45,000 people in the UK since 2014.
This means, crucially, that there was baseline data and brain images from all of those people before the pandemic.
ABOUT THE STUDY:
The research team analyzed the brain imaging data and then brought back those who had been diagnosed with COVID-19. This, for additional brain tests.
They compared people who had experienced COVID-19 with participants who had not. Carefully matching groups based on age, gender, test baseline date, and study location. As well as common risk factors for disease, such as health variables and socioeconomic status.
The team found marked differences in gray matter
The team found marked differences in gray matter, which is made up of the cell bodies of neurons that process information in the brain. Between those who had been infected with COVID-19 and those who had not.
Specifically, the thickness of the gray matter tissue in the brain regions known as the frontal and temporal lobes was reduced in the COVID-19 group. Unlike the typical patterns seen in the group that had not experienced COVID-19.
In the general population, it is normal to see some change in the volume or thickness of gray matter over time as people age. But the changes were larger than normal in those who had been infected with COVID-19.
People who had been infected with COVID-19 showed a loss of brain volume
Interestingly, when the researchers separated people who had a disease severe enough to require hospitalization. The results were the same as for those who had experienced milder COVID-19.
That is, c as to require hospitalization.
We must be careful when interpreting these findings while awaiting a formal peer review.
Finally, the researchers also investigated changes in performance on cognitive tasks and found that those who had contracted COVID-19 were slower at processing information. This, compared to those who had not.
While we must be careful when interpreting these findings while awaiting a formal peer review. The large sample, the pre- and post-illness data on the same people, and the careful matching with people who had not had COVID-19 have made this preliminary work particularly valuable.
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