Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Elizabeth Cooney
Published on 2024-02-28 22:00:38
The lingering symptoms of long Covid can be frightening and baffling, with difficulty focusing and thinking, commonly known as brain fog, posing a significant challenge. A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine sheds light on the cognitive impacts of Covid-19, showing that the virus can lead to a decrease in cognitive abilities comparable to a loss of IQ points.
Researchers from Imperial College London conducted the study, analyzing the cognitive impairment in individuals in the months following a coronavirus infection. The results revealed that even those who recovered from their Covid symptoms within four to 12 weeks showed a decrease in IQ score by three points compared to uninfected individuals. For individuals with long Covid, lasting more than 12 weeks after testing positive, the drop was six IQ points. Those who required hospitalization due to the severity of their illness experienced a more significant deficit of nine IQ points.
The study findings highlighted a correlation between brain fog and measurable deficits in memory and executive task performance. The online tests conducted as part of the study evaluated cognitive abilities such as memory, reasoning, and planning. Although the differences observed were modest and based on a single time point comparison between groups, the results were surprising in terms of the impact on cognitive performance.
The study involved over 112,000 individuals in England who completed questionnaires about their Covid infections and underwent cognitive tests measuring various abilities. The researchers emphasized the importance of ongoing surveillance to understand the long-term effects of Covid on cognition. Participants with unresolved persistent symptoms demonstrated poorer performance on cognitive tests, particularly in memory and planning tasks.
Vaccination slightly narrowed the gaps in cognitive performance between those who had Covid and those who did not, while reinfection resulted in minimal additional cognitive decline compared to single infections. Individuals infected with the original SARS-CoV-2 strain and the Alpha strain exhibited more pronounced cognitive deficits than those infected with the Delta and Omicron variants.
The study raised questions about the implications of IQ declines and the potential for these deficits to resolve over time. Ongoing research is crucial to understanding the long-term effects of Covid on cognition and developing effective treatments. While some aspects of the cognitive impact of Covid remain unclear, identifying and quantifying these issues represent essential steps towards addressing them.
Experts emphasized the need for pharmaceutical companies to invest in research and development of treatments for long Covid. While progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms of long Covid, the development of effective therapies remains a challenge. Encouragingly, a significant portion of individuals with persistent cognitive symptoms saw their symptoms resolve, indicating the potential for improvement over time.
In conclusion, the study underscores the cognitive impact of Covid-19 and the need for further research to address these challenges. Understanding the long-term effects of the virus on cognition and developing effective treatments are critical in supporting individuals affected by long Covid.
