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July 30, 2021 – COVID-19 infection may have a substantial negative effect on intelligence, according to a new large-scale study from the UK, findings that are consistent with reports of ‘brain fog’ among COVIDs -19 long distance. 19 patients.
The researchers analyzed data from 81,337 people who took the Great British Intelligence Test in 2020. Of those, around 13,000 reported contracting COVID-19, and 275 of them had completed the test before and after infection.
Those who had previously had the coronavirus found it more difficult to complete tasks related to reasoning, problem solving and land use planning, the authors said. Researchers monitored age, education, and general mood.
“These findings are consistent with long-standing reports of COVID, where ‘brain fog’, problems with concentration and difficulty finding the correct words are common,” the authors wrote. “Recovery from a COVID-19 infection may be associated with particularly pronounced problems in aspects of higher cognitive or ‘executive’ function. “
The duration of working memory and emotional processing do not appear to be affected.
The severity of cognitive decline appeared to be related to the severity of the infection. The researchers said those who were put on a ventilator while sick had the greatest effects. On average, their score dropped by 7 IQ points.
“The magnitude of the observed deficit was not negligible,” write the authors. But they said brain imaging was needed before they could draw any definitive conclusions.
“It is important to be careful in inferring a neurobiological or psychological basis for the deficits observed without brain imaging data, although the assessment tasks used here have been found to correspond to different networks within the human brain in terms of normal functional activity and connectivity as well as structural damage to the network, ”they wrote.
Researchers believe a high fever and breathing problems may have contributed to cognitive decline. But those symptoms have long since gone away for most people in the study – the authors noted that only 4.8% of them reported persistent symptoms.
The study provides insight into some of the post-COVID period – a condition that has been closely monitored by the CDC. According to the agency, long-term COVID-19 can include a range of symptoms that persist for several months after infection, including shortness of breath, headache, joint or muscle pain, dizziness, and difficulty thinking or speaking. focus, otherwise known as the “brain”. fog.”
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