The results suggest that the cognitive effects of severe COVID infection are still noticeable more than six months afterward and that recovery can be gradual, the investigators said. The researchers estimated their magnitude of cognitive loss to be about 10 IQ points. The COVID survivors, especially those who’d needed ventilators, logged far slower mental processing speeds and showed less-accurate verbal reasoning than the uninfected group. The researchers compared the test results to data from more than 66,000 people who weren’t infected with the virus. All underwent comprehensive, computerized testing of memory, attention, and reasoning abilities an average of six months after their illness. There is increasing recognition of post-COVID-19 sequelae involving chronic fatigue and brain fog, for which photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy has been utilized. The study, published April 28, 2022, in the journal eClinicalMedicine, analyzed data from 46 adults who had been hospitalized for COVID-19 in the United Kingdom from March to July 2020, including 16 who needed ventilators. "Those sorts of things we see a lot, and that's really why we worry about cognitive function.People who suffered from severe cases of COVID-19 may develop cognitive problems - such as brain fog and trouble recalling words - equivalent to losing 10 IQ points, a small new study suggests. Those impacts might show up as new difficulties keeping track of tasks at work, forgetting to take medication, trouble managing finances or issues while driving, Jackson said. There's no hard rule here, but if you've been dealing with mild cognitive symptoms for a few months, Jackson said it's time to check in with your doctor.īut if your symptoms are noticeably impacting your life, you shouldn't wait to speak to a medical professional. So, having underlying conditions (like heart disease, hypertension or diabetes) as well as poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle can all contribute to your overall risk for cognitive issues due to COVID-19 or other causes, she explained. (Pexels: Robert erban) Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this article /news/brain-fog-a-symptom-of-long-covid-19/101355350 COVID-19 is linked to an increased risk of developing brain fog and dementia after an infection, according to a recent medical study. So Becker's team is currently working on a study that compares people who did and didn't get COVID-19 during the same time period to help tease out the specific cognitive effects of the virus on its own.Īpart from that, "the other risk factors for having cognitive impairments still apply," Becker said. Of course, the chronic stress of the pandemic e xacerbated or triggered mental health issues in many people. He recounted stories of people taking medication multiple times a day because they'd forgotten they had already taken it, of people getting out of their car while it's still in drive and of a woman who mistakenly introduced herself to a close friend of 15 years as if they'd never met. Post-COVID cognitive issues can cause real issues in people's lives, Jackson said. How severe are post-COVID cognitive symptoms? "Our patients feel like they're working twice as hard, cognitively or otherwise, for half as much," said Jackson, who is also the lead psychologist at Vanderbilt’s Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction and Survivorship Center. For instance, fatigue was reported by 32 of COVID-19 survivors 12 or more weeks after diagnosis, while cognitive impairment, including brain fog, was reported by 22 of survivors in the same time. The researchers found that after a mild case of COVID-19, a type of human immune cell in the brain called microglia became activated and stayed more reactive even weeks later. Or it might seem like it takes more effort than usual to complete those tasks. The compounds were found in both the blood and the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. Although patients may not necessarily be able to pinpoint that they have an issue with memory or attention, "they just feel like they are in a fog and something is different." They might not feel as sharp or like they are as able to do their usual tasks, she said. Notably not an official medical term, brain fog is a term used to describe subjective feelings of mild disorientation, inability to concentrate, struggles with orientation of time of day and/or situations, problems with short-term memory and recall, difficulty in acquiring new information and some difficulties in what is clinically referred to. These symptoms may amount to what we colloquially refer to as "brain fog," Becker said.
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