Study says Covid-19 can cause brain aging by up to 20 years

Brain aging from a severe Covid-19 infection could mean 20 years of wear and tear, according to researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Imperial College of London, both in the UK. The recovery is “gradual at best,” according to the scientists.

Neurological sequelae such as inattention, memory problems, cognitive blinding, sleep disturbances, increased anxiety, among other problems, have been frequently reported by patients infected with Sars-CoV-2.

But the duration of these symptoms was present even six months after infection, according to research published in the scientific journal eClinicalMedicine. The research analyzed the cognitive, memory and reasoning aspects of 46 patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms.

Of this total, 16 were admitted to the intensive care unit and required mechanical ventilation. All research participants were admitted to Addenbrooke Hospital, Cambridge between March and July 2020.

During testing, the researchers found that there was “aging” in the brain equivalent to 20 years, with slowed reaction times and a lack of reasoning pattern. According to the study, these features are seen in people over the age of 50 and 70.

For people with the most severe forms of the disease, testing showed greater impairments in memory function, reasoning, and reaction time. Thus, a relationship is established between the severity of the disease and the severity of the sequelae.

The more severe the effect of the disease on the patient, the worse the results on cognitive tests.

There is no concrete data on the duration, recovery and whether the sequelae have healed or not.

According to the researchers, recovery may be gradual, but there was still no evidence of full recovery for patients with more severe disease.

ARTICLE eClinicalMedicine: doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101417