If you experienced fatigue, dizziness, and headaches in your first Covid illness, the threat of post-infection memory and concentration disorders is much greater. In a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, researchers from the UK found that several months after an infection, around 70% of long-term Covid patients experienced difficulties with memory and concentration.
The team of researchers included 181 prolonged covid patients whom they followed for 18 months. Participants performed several tasks that assessed their memory and decision-making skills. Most of them had tested positive for covid at least six months before the start of the study. Very few participants were hospitalized because of Covid. Another 185 people who did not have COVID-19 participated in the study as a group. Some of the responsibilities that tested their executive functions included memorizing words on a list and which photographs gave the impression in combination at the same time. Those who suffered from long-term Covid had memory disorders, especially those who had multiple symptoms when they became infected.
To make matters worse, some of the long-standing Covid patients have been laid off by their doctors despite their cognitive problems. The study found that 69% of the participants had brain fog. They even said (60%) that they had trouble finding the right one. word when speaking. About 68% reported carelessness and 78% reported having difficulty concentrating on tasks.
“The long COVID has gained very little attention politically or medically. There is a pressing desire to take it more seriously, and cognitive disorders are a vital component of this. When politicians communicate about ‘living with COVID’, i. e. an unmitigated infection, it’s something they don’t know. The impact on the workforce can be enormous,” study author Dr. Susan S. Lucy Cheke, researcher in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge.
In a 2020 study, researchers estimated that about 35% of patients, and up to 85% of those who are seriously ill, report neurological symptoms, in addition to headaches, dizziness, muscle pain, or loss of taste and smell. patients who died of COVID-19 show symptoms of neuroinflammation. In another study, researchers also observed significant gray matter loss in areas with greater connectivity to the olfactory formula (the virus’ hypothetical pathway of access to the brain).
In this new Array, participants were recruited between October 2020 and March 2021, when the Alpha variant and the original form of SARS-CoV-2 were wreaking havoc around the world. However, he has no knowledge about the long COVID related to Delta or Omicron. variants of the coronavirus. Researchers are now recruiting a new cohort to verify this.
“This is vital evidence that when other people say they have cognitive difficulties after COVID, they are not necessarily the result of anxiety or depression. The effects are measurable: anything worrying is happening,” the author, Dr Muzaffer Kaser, a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, said in a statement. “Memory disorders can particularly affect other people’s daily lives, adding the ability to do their job properly. “
In one study, 86% of participants reported that cognitive decline and/or memory impairment had an effect on their ability to work. “Prolonged COVID is reported as a cyclical disease, with symptoms whose severity adjusts over time,” the researchers said. wrote on the paper.
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