As a result, Covid-19 can shrink the brain and reduce gray matter in the regions that control emotions and memory, and damage areas that control the sense of smell, according to Oxford University research published on Monday.
These effects have even been observed in people who did not come to the hospital for their infection. Whether the damage can be partially reversed or whether it will persist in the long term needs to be researched further.
“There is strong evidence of brain-related abnormalities in Covid-19,” the researchers explained. Even in mild cases, the study participants showed a deterioration in the brain functions responsible for concentration and organization. On average, brain size shrank between 0.2 and 2 percent. The study, published in the journal Nature, looked at the brain changes in 785 subjects aged 51 to 81. Their brains were scanned twice. Among them were 401 people who fell ill with Covid between the two scans. The second scan took place an average of 141 days after the first scan.
The study took place at a time when the alpha variant was still dominant in Great Britain. It is therefore unlikely that it also includes people who were infected with the Delta variant. The researchers left open whether a corona vaccination had any influence. However, the British health authority said last month that an evaluation of 15 studies showed that vaccinated people were only about half as likely to suffer from Long Covid, the long-term consequences of the disease observed in some patients, as compared to unvaccinated people.
Source: Nachrichten
