New evidence worries doctors about long-term damage from COVID ‘brain fog’

A wave of new scientific findings is causing renewed concern among doctors about the long-term cognitive impacts of COVID-19 in some patients.

Several new studies presented at the Alzheimer’s Association international conference, which is being held this week in Denver, found that many patients with COVID-19 suffer from “brain fog” and other cognitive disorders months after their birth. recovery. This adds to a growing body of research into the noticeable long-term symptoms of COVID-19, which can include confusion, forgetfulness, and other disturbing signs of memory loss.

“This research presents the first data from an international consortium, which includes the Alzheimer’s Association, investigating the long-term consequences of COVID-19 on the brain,” said Heather Snyder, vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association. prepared remarks.

Not much time has passed for researchers to know if these worrying symptoms will eventually go away. However, they point to these studies as renewed evidence that everyone – especially older people who are already vulnerable to cognitive decline – should get vaccinated.

“As we work together to better understand the lasting impacts of COVID-19 on the brain, the take-home message is simple: don’t get COVID-19. And the best way to do that is to get vaccinated,” Maria Carrillo , scientific director of the Alzheimer’s Association, said in prepared remarks.

Researchers at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center studied the cognition and olfactory senses of 300 elderly Native Americans from Argentina who contracted COVID and found that 50% had persistent problems with forgetting and 25 % had additional language and executive dysfunction problems.

“A large portion of our COVID recovery program patients exhibit cognitive signs and symptoms long after the inflammatory phase of COVID has passed. We usually see many patients with predominantly nasopharyngeal disease coming back to us with more neurocognitive deficits, ”said Dr. Thomas Gut, director of the post-COVID recovery center at Staten Island University Hospital, said told ABC News. Gut did not participate in any of the studies presented at the conference.

Researchers at New York University Grossman School of Medicine studied blood samples from 310 patients admitted to NYU Langone Health with COVID for the presence of biomarkers that would indicate inflammation and brain damage. High levels of certain biomarkers were strongly associated with inflammation in the brain. Damage to the blood-brain barrier caused by inflammation can cause the brain’s inability to send messages from the brain to other parts of the body.

“So far our efforts to offer supportive therapies have improved, but recovery time is still measured in months. Finding a cause and mechanism for these inflammatory changes in the brain would be the first place to start. how to reverse or prevent these changes, inflammatory changes, ”Gut said.

Researchers at the University of Thessaly examined the cognitive function and overall health of 32 patients with mild to moderate COVID infection two months after hospitalization and found that more than 50% had experienced cognitive decline, especially with short term memory. They also found that lower memory and reflection scores were associated with a lower oxygen saturation level during a short walk test.

“A lot of the cognitive changes we see in many ways mirror Alzheimer’s disease or PTSD,” Gut said. “What is becoming increasingly clear is that the severity of the acute infection does not directly predict neurocognitive changes after the end of the acute phase. We have many patients who have had an infection or mild illness. struggling with changes in memory or behavior. “

Odelia N. Lewis, MD, is a recent graduate of the SUNY Downstate Family Medicine Residency Program and an ABC News Medical Unit Contributor. Sony Salzman is the coordinating producer of the unit.