- Cognitive and memory impairment can occur in people after infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and this effect is greater in people with long COVID.
- Those who received at least two vaccinations and had fewer repeat infections, and those who were infected with later variants of SARS-CoV-2 had lower measures of cognitive decline.
- There are still a number of questions remaining about ‘brain fog’ in people who have long COVID.
People who had an infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, showed measurable cognitive impairment compared with those who have not had COVID-19, a new study from Imperial College of London in the United Kingdom shows.
While the cognitive and memory deficits were small for people who had mild infections or did not go on to develop long COVID, the effect of more severe infections that resulted in admission to intensive care units was associated with a more pronounced effect.
The researchers found that vaccination had a protective effect, however.
The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, used a multiple regression analysis to focus on the results of 112,964 adults in England.
Study participants who had recovered from COVID-19 and whose symptoms resolved in less than 4 weeks or at least 12 weeks had small cognitive deficits compared with those in the “no–COVID-19 group,” who had not ever been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, or had unconfirmed infection.
People who had symptoms occurring over 12 weeks after recovery from the initial infection — such as chronic fatigue, respiratory difficulty, or neurological issues — had greater cognitive deficits, as did people who had become infected with early variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Even though the researchers did not attach a “long COVID” diagnosis to these participants, such persistent symptoms are common in people with this post-viral condition.
“By using an innovative cognitive test which has also been completed by people…
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