Illuminating long-term cognitive deficits following COVID-19 infections

COVID-19 infections may have long-term impacts on memory and cognition.

Prior research has discovered correlations between COVID-19 infections and brain fog and cognitive deficits, according to a news report from Newsweek. Further, the virus may be capable of disrupting the brain’s protective barrier and affecting the ways in which brain cells communicate.

In a human challenge study published in eClinicalMedicine, researchers examined long-term cognitive symptoms in 18 unvaccinated patients who had not previously experienced a COVID-19 infection. The patients were infected with the virus and followed-up for 360 days postinfection alongside 16 patients who were not infected. Both groups underwent cognitive assessments pre- and postinfection under controlled conditions.

Compared with those who hadn’t been infected, the researchers found that the patients who had been infected demonstrated poorer cognitive and memory function up to 360 days and showed an increase in a brain injury-associated protein.

Further studies are needed to better understand the biological mechanisms contributing to the relationship between COVID-19 infections and cognitive symptoms.

Read more: Newsweek

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