Research, Technology

Severe COVID-19 is equivalent to 20 years of age

According to the World Health Organization(WHO), nearly 15 million people have died due to the coronavirus or its impact on health systems. Let's say more - doctors admit that the consequences of the transferred covid turned out to be worse than expected. The results of scientific research have shown that covid attacks absolutely all organs, including the brain, inside which the virus successfully multiplies. The consequences for the psyche are also of concern: depression and psychosis are among the companions of the transferred COVID-19. But this is not the worst. Those who have been severely affected by the coronavirus and have been hospitalized may experience thinking difficulties comparable in magnitude to aging 20 years and an overall loss of 10 IQ points, a new study has found.

Coronavirus is scarier than it looks, as is its effect on the brain

Content

  • 1 How COVID-19 affects health
  • 2 Consequences of the transferred COVID-19
  • 3 The brain and the coronavirus
  • 4 Severe illness and thought disorder

How COVID-19 affects health

By cognitive thinking, psychologists meanthe ability of a person to recognize the emotions of others. This skill helps us in communication, problem solving, professional and daily activities. Cognitive thinking can also be seen as emotional intelligence, through which we can empathize with other people.

The level of emotional intelligence also depends on cognitive skills and individual characteristics of a person.

At the beginning of the pandemic, doctors drew attention to a number ofanxiety symptoms associated with impaired thinking and brain function. The surprise was not only fever and shortness of breath. In some patients after recovery debilitating symptoms developed - fog in the head, memory impairment, weakness,shortness of breath, trouble concentrating, muscle and joint pain, and sleep disturbances. These and other symptoms have become known as post-COVID syndrome or long-term covid.

Scientific studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 damages the brain, causing headaches, strokes and seizures.

In the first year of a pandemic, somehospitalized patients with a severe course of infection, specific mental changes were observed that differed from early dementia or general aging of the body.

You can read more about how coronavirus damages the brain here.

According to the results of previously publishedstudies, about a third of patients experience long-term covid. Fortunately, a year after their illness, most felt healthy and reported minor improvements in physical condition and cognitive skills. Scientists also managed to establish that the more severe the disease, the stronger its consequences.

Consequences of the postponed COVID-19

Cognitive impairment, as notedthe authors of the new study are characteristic of a wide range of neurological disorders, including aging and dementia. But in the case of covid, the situation is somewhat different: COVID-19 leaves a special cognitive “imprint”, significantly reducing the quality of life.

Hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19, three times more likely to experience cognitive impairment

Previous studies have shown that covid affects the brain and in some cases leads to serious disorders up to prolonged cognitive decline. Those who were hospitalized with COVID-19 experienced specific cognitive impairments, including slower processing speed, a new study found.

Coronavirus is really causing problems withvarious organs of the body, including the brain. Cognitive function and psychological health are indeed getting worse, said neuroscientist David Menon from the University of Cambridge.

The results also show that the effectsof covid six months after recovery can be equivalent to as much as 20 years of aging or a loss of at least 10 IQ points. In other words, survivors of the disease may have difficulties with thinking, comparable in magnitude to aging by 20 years.

Past covid has also been linked to prion diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. We've talked about it in more detail before.

Brain and coronavirus

So, researchers from the University of Cambridge found that the severe course of COVID-19 can lead to a serious loss of mental abilities, which equivalent to aging from 50 to 70 years in a matter of months. The authors of the scientific work wanted to understand how pronounced the difficulties with thinking are, as well as to identify aspects of thinking that were most affected.

The severe course of the disease leads to a variety of consequences for the body.

To this end, the team focused on a group of46 UK patients who were hospitalized with severe COVID-19 during the first few months of the pandemic, from March 2020 to July 2020. Even then, one-third of those hospitalized suffered the disease so severely that they were connected to a ventilator. You can read more about how the IVL works here.

As the authors of the new study write,published in the scientific journal EClinicalMedicine, patients were often excessively forgetful and reported "head fog". For this reason, it is difficult for them to find words to describe their own condition. In short, scientists did not expect such a gloomy picture, and some patients may never fully recover, as a result of which they will not be able to return to work.

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The cause remains to be seen, but researchshows that patients show signs of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. However, they do not appear to be related to thinking problems.

Like a doctor who sees people regularlypost-COVID, I'm not surprised to see persistent mental health issues, memory impairment, and difficulty concentrating for months after hospitalization,” says Dr. Colin Franz, who was not involved in the study.

Franz also notes that in some casesdifficulties may be associated with cerebral circulation and breathing problems that disturb sleep and contribute to severe fatigue, which can negatively affect test results.

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Severe illness and thought disorder

During the work, scientists from the CambridgeUniversity studied the results of cognitive tests of 46 patients. It turned out that on average, six months after hospitalization (between March and July 2020), 16 people were connected to a ventilator.

Testing was carried out using the platformCognitron, developed by researchers at Imperial College London, which later formed the basis of the Great British Intelligence Test. The team compared the results with those of 460 people who had never had COVID-19.

The coronavirus pandemic has changed our lives forever. And not for the better

It should be noted that the work consideredonly the most severe cases of hospitalization of patients. However, many other studies have shown that even a “mild” course of covid can lead to similar cognitive consequences.

Researchers have found that the effects of severe COVID-19 six months after recovery are equivalent to 20 years of aging.

The reason that SARS-CoV-2 contributes to cognitive decline, which recover slowly, stillunknown. Previous research has also shown that severe illness reduces glucose uptake in an area of ​​the brain responsible for attention, problem solving, and memory.

According to available data, there are more and moreevidence that the immune and inflammatory response of the body can have a significant impact on the brain, so scientists still have a lot of work ahead. As a reminder, the best protection against COVID-19 is vaccination and adherence to known prevention measures: hand washing, social distancing and face masks. Be healthy.