Study states that Covid “brain fog” is as bad as 10 years of aging

In a recent study, it was found that a kind of "brain fog" caused by COVID can be compared to 10 years of aging. This includes major cognitive deficits that linger after 6–10 months of the onset of the illness.

King’s College London conducted investigative medical research that was published in The Lancet on Friday, June 21, regarding the impact of COVID-19 on memory. It was revealed in it that cognitive impairment was the highest in people who had COVID-19, along with symptoms that lasted for more than 3 months.

Lives continue to be affected all over the world by the long-term impact of the disease, with people feeling the symptoms even after more than 2 years after the first infection. Although the study is still in its rudimentary stages, one cannot just dismiss some of the lasting effects that the coronavirus has had on people’s health.

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Covid brain fog symptoms

A meta-analysis and a methodic review of a study found that almost 47,910 patients aged between 17 and 87 endured the long-term effects of COVID-19. It was found that almost 80% of the infected people suffered from "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2" (SARS-CoV-2), leading to patients developing one or multiple long-term "brain frog" symptoms.

Brain fog symptoms include cognitive impairments such as memory loss (Image via Frontiers)

According to the experts, the most common symptoms were:

• Fatigue
• Attention disorder
• Headache
• Dyspnea
• Hair loss

Neuropsychiatric symptoms of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 included:

• Disrupted sleep
• Anxiety
• Headaches
• Impaired attention
• Depression
• Memory loss

These symptoms can occur following a severe or mild infection.

A high occurrence of cognitive impairment in the cases of post-Covid-19 patients exceeded about 50% in all research. It was also found that within about 1438 COVID-19 survivors, 10% of severe COVID-19 patients had dementia, and around 26.54% suffered from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) well after 6 months of getting discharged. The statistic for dementia patients rose to 15% after 12 months, whereas the count for MCI patients remained around 26.15%.

Professor David Menon, head of the Division of Anaesthesia at the University of Cambridge, has commented on the findings. According to him, cognitive impairment is common in a broad spectrum of neurological disorders, including aging and dementia. However, the pattern of these impairments as left by the COVID-19 virus settles on a distinct cognitive "fingerprint" that was evident from the findings.

Additionally, Claire Steves, a professor of aging and health at King’s College, stated,

"The fact remains that two years on from their first infection, some people don’t feel fully recovered and their lives continue to be impacted by the long-term effects of the coronavirus. We need more work to understand why this is the case and what can be done to help."

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Brain fog after COVID is calculated to have similar damages as dealing with aging for about 10 years. As has been defined by the WHO, brain fog is an informal kind of umbrella term that is used to explain a cluster of cognitive function impairments. This includes short-term memory loss, dizziness, confusion, and the inability to concentrate. In a more long-term form, brain fog can also cause hippocampal atrophy, a neurodegeneration that has been associated with inflammation and severe sepsis.