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This is an archive article published on March 8, 2022
New study finds evidence of brain damage due to Covid-19
The study, published in the latest issue of Nature journal, examined the brain scans of the 401 participants before and after they were infected with Covid-19, and compared them with scans of 384 people who had remained uninfected.
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The researchers claimed that this was the first large-scale study in which the brain scans prior and post the infection could be compared. A new study in the United Kingdom has found “strong evidence” for brain-related abnormalities owing to Covid-19 infection, especially among older age groups. This study, carried out on 785 people in the UK, found greater reduction in brain size, reduction in grey matter thickness and potential for damage in the ability to smell things.
The study, published in the latest issue of Nature journal, examined the brain scans of the 401 participants before and after they were infected with Covid-19, and compared them with scans of 384 people who had remained uninfected. It found “a significant, deleterious impact associated with SARS-CoV2”.
The researchers claimed that this was the first large-scale study in which the brain scans prior and post the infection could be compared. The availability of pre-infection brain scan data reduced the possibility of mistaking the damages seen in subsequent scans as manifestations of pre-existing problems.
“The infected participants also showed on average larger cognitive decline between the two timepoints,” the study said, pointing out that these signs were evident even among patients who had not been hospitalised.
The study by scientists at American and British institutions said it was not clear whether these impacts of Covid-19 would persist in the long-term or can be reversed, and called for further investigations.
The New York Times quoted Dr Serena Spudich, chief of neurological infections and global neurology at the Yale School of Medicine, not involved in the study, as saying that the study did seem to present convincing evidence that Covid-19 had effected changes in the brains of the participants.
But she said it would be wrong to conclude that everyone infected with Covid-19 suffered from brain damage. “To make a conclusion that this has some long-term clinical implications for the patients I think is a stretch. We don’t want to scare the public and have them think, ‘Oh, this is proof that everyone’s going to have brain damage and not be able to function’,” she said.
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The study said the impact of Covid-19 infection was observed mainly in the limbic system, that part of the brain that is responsible for emotional or behavioural responses, and the olfactory cortical system which deals with the sense of smell.
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