Even mild COVID-19 can shrink the brain, preliminary research finds

[Judi Lynn]

By Jessica Bernard about 4 hours ago

It resembles brain changes seen in older adults.

With more than 18 months of the pandemic in the rearview mirror, researchers have been steadily gathering new and important insights into the effects of COVID-19 on the body and brain. These findings are raising concerns about the long-term impacts that the coronavirus might have on biological processes such as aging.

As a cognitive neuroscientist, my past research has focused on understanding how normal brain changes related to aging affect people's ability to think and move — particularly in middle age and beyond. But as more evidence came in showing that COVID-19 could affect the body and brain for months or longer following infection, my research team became interested in exploring how it might also impact the natural process of aging.

Peering in at the brain's response to COVID-19
In August 2021, a preliminary but large-scale study investigating brain changes in people who had experienced COVID-19 drew a great deal of attention within the neuroscience community.

In that study, researchers relied on an existing database called the UK Biobank, which contains brain imaging data from over 45,000 people in the U.K. going back to 2014. This means — crucially — that there was baseline data and brain imaging of all of those people from before the pandemic.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/covid-19-shrinks-brain

[Mabel]

1. Wow what are the republican's going to do now....

They can't afford to lose anymore brain real estate, they're working on a minimal amount as it is.

[femmedem]

2. K&R. Even though it hasn't been peer-reviewed yet, this is an important, albeit alarming, study.

For those who don't have time to read through the link, the study compares the brain scans of people before and after they contracted covid-19 with those of people who haven't contracted covid. (Both groups had been scanned prior to the pandemic so they had a perfect control group.) There is less gray matter in the temporal and frontal lobes in the brains of people who've had covid. Whether the person had a mild or severe case appears to make no difference in the amount of gray matter lost.

The loss of taste and smell during the infection provide a clue about what is likely happening. From the article: Strikingly, the brain regions that the U.K. researchers found to be impacted by COVID-19 are all linked to the olfactory bulb, a structure near the front of the brain that passes signals about smells from the nose to other brain regions. The olfactory bulb has connections to regions of the temporal lobe. We often talk about the temporal lobe in the context of aging and Alzheimer's disease because it is where the hippocampus is located. The hippocampus is likely to play a key role in aging, given its involvement in memory and cognitive processes.

[bahboo]

3. I just recently recovered from a breakthrough infection....

and loss of taste and smell was one symptom I DIDN'T have. Thankful at the time, more thankful now...

[femmedem]

4. I'll bet!

Glad you're recovered.

[bahboo]

5. thank you....going to join you in that glass of wine...:)

[Igel]

6. I'll be snarky.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/this-is-your-brain-on-alcohol-2017071412000


On the other hand,

https://source.wustl.edu/2019/10/which-came-first-brain-size-or-drinking-propensity/