(ORDO NEWS) — We all know that COVID-19 can lead to prolonged fatigue and brain fog. But one of the largest studies on the long-term cognitive effects of severe infection has shown some rather alarming results. The study was published in the journal eClinical Medicine.
In a study of 46 patients with severe COVID-19, researchers found that the mental impact of severe COVID-19 after six months could be equivalent to 20 years of aging or a loss of 10 IQ points. The specific mental changes also differed from those seen in early dementia or general aging.
“Cognitive impairment is characteristic of a wide range of neurological disorders, including dementia and even normal aging, but the patterns we saw – the cognitive fingerprint of COVID-19 – were different from all of these,” says neuroscientist David Menon from the University of Cambridge in the UK.
The new article does not aim to alarm many of us who have already had COVID, but instead takes a closer look at how severe cognitive changes are after severe cases of infection and how to mitigate them.
“Tens of thousands of people received intensive care for COVID-19 in England alone, and many more were very ill but not hospitalized,” says lead researcher and cognitive scientist Adam Hampshire of Imperial College London.
“This means that a large number of people are still experiencing mental problems many months later. We urgently need to see what can be done to help these people.”
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