Covid-19 can cause brain shrinkage and memory loss

Research from the University of Oxford points out that effects have been seen even in non-hospitalized people

According to a study by Oxford University.

The scientists said the effects have even been seen in people who have not been hospitalized with Covid-19.

And more research is needed to find out if the impact can be partially reversed or would therefore persist in the long term.

“There is strong evidence for brain-related abnormalities in Covid-19,” the researchers said. Even in mild cases, research participants showed “worsening of executive function” responsible for focus and organization, and on average, brain size decreased by 0.2% to 2%.

The peer-reviewed study, published in the journal natureinvestigated brain changes in 785 participants aged 51 to 81 whose brains were scanned twice, including 401 people who caught covid between the two scans.

The second examination was carried out on average 141 days after the first.

The study was carried out when the Alpha variant was dominant in the UK and is unlikely to include anyone infected with the Delta variant.

However, studies have shown that some people with Covid suffer from “mental confusion” which includes impaired attention, concentration, speed of information processing and memory.

In Brazil

Over here, in a study of 425 patients cured of moderate and severe forms of Covid-19, researchers from the University of São Paulo (USP) had already observed a high prevalence of cognitive deficits and psychiatric disorders.

The evaluations were therefore carried out at the Hospital das Clínicas between six and nine months after discharge from the hospital.

More than half (51.1%) of participants reported experiencing memory decline after infection and 13.6% developed post-traumatic stress disorder..

Namely, the full results of the research, which received support from the Fundação de Amparo at Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (Fapesp), have been published in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry.

Long Covid: the rehabilitation of patients with symptoms of the infection is the new challenge for medicine in the country

Source: Estadao

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