Link Between COVID and �Brain Fog,' Dementia Identified
A new study examines how COVID-19 is affecting individuals in a number of cognitive-related areas, including memory loss, "brain fog," and dementia.
"Many people who recover from mild or moderate COVID-19 notice slowed thinking or memory loss, and this motivated us to leverage our experience in studying cognitive issues related to Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, and HIV to examine this phenomenon," said Dr. William T. Hu, associate professor and chief of cognitive neurology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research.
‘COVID-19 patients experiencing cognitive impairment following mild-to-moderate infection can be prevented.’
A new roadmap to study the protein and cellular changes involved in worsening and alleviating symptoms of brain fog are developed.
Using the latest RNA sequencing technology, how inflammatory cells misbehave to cause memory/thinking dysfunction in long COVID are understood.
Researchers assessed each person's cognition, mood, and sleep patterns to identify potential causes of brain fog and compared their brain MRI findings with biochemical signatures of neuroinflammation.
They also analyzed microglial cells, critically important immune cells in the brain from individuals who have had COVID-19 to determine whether those cells can be used to predict the persistence of post-COVID cognitive impairment (PCCI).
This allowed researchers to generate new hypotheses on why these cells may dysfunction in COVID-19 and PCCI, what the shared inflammatory mechanisms are between PCCI and Alzheimer's disease, and whether FDA-approved drugs can be repurposed to prevent the onset of PCCI or improve its outcomes.
Approximately half of the individuals who have been seen in the program have issues with brain fog after their bout with COVID.
Of those who screened positive for neurocognitive issues, symptoms include memory loss, brain fog, new confusion, headaches, numbness, and multiple neurological symptoms.
Anyone who had COVID, regardless of whether they're having active symptoms should screen themselves that helps with overall quality of life.
Source: Medindia