Brain's Frontal Lobes Electrical Activity May Experience Disruption Due to COVID-19
The Lowdown on COVID-19 and the Brain
New research sheds light on the impact of COVID-19 on our noodle-wrangling organ, the brain. Here's the skinny:
During their investigations, medical whizzes examined EEG results from nearly 600 patients who were part of 84 different studies. The median age of these test-bunnies was 61.3, with two-thirds being men.
Turns out, the virus's most common hideouts in the brain are the frontal lobes. Dr. Zulfi Haneef, a souped-up neurology/neurophysiology researcher at Baylor, shares his insights. "Given how the virus snakes its way in through the nose, it's reasonable to assume a connection between the brain's adjacent entry point and its abnormalities."
The research team notes that the virus may not be the sole culprit behind all the damage. Other factors, like inflammation, low oxygen levels, blood stickiness, and cardiac issues, may contribute to the EEG abnormalities that go beyond the frontal lobes.
In almost 70% of the patients examined, the team found "diffuse slowing" in the overall electrical activity of the brain.
Now, onto "brain fog" and its association with COVID-19. Some recovering folk have complained about lingering health issues, affectionately known as long COVID. Amongst them is good old brain fog.
A study, found on a preprint server called MedRxiv, revealed that people who believe they've battled the virus performed worse on an online cognition test compared to those who didn't think they ever caught it. The researchers suggest that COVID-19 might have aged their brains by about a decade.
Although this study doesn't definitively prove that COVID-19 causes long-term cognitive decline, it raises concerns about potential long-term effects on the brain.
Dr. Haneef agrees, stating, "While we hope that people will recover with no lingering issues, these findings suggest that there might be long-term complications. This is something we've suspected, and now we have evidence to support our suspicions."
The good news is that nearly 57% of patients who underwent follow-up EEG tests showed improvements. However, the study had a few limitations, including the lack of access to raw EEG data from individual studies and the possibility of skewed results due to doctors performing more EEG tests on patients with neurological symptoms.
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The Facts:
- EEG abnormalities occur in a significant percentage of COVID-19 patients exhibiting neurological symptoms, especially in severe cases.
- The presence of abnormal EEG patterns can precede neurological syndromes by several days, potentially serving as a predictive tool.
- Underlying brain inflammation, hypoxia, and structural vascular changes contribute to the EEG abnormalities and neurological impairment observed in COVID-19 patients.
- The research on COVID-19 and its impact on the brain reveals a high number of EEG abnormalities in patients exhibiting neurological symptoms, with a significant percentage in severe cases.
- These EEG abnormalities can occur before the onset of neurological syndromes, which potentially makes them a predictive tool.
- Dr. Haneef's research, as part of the investigations, indicates that the frontal lobes are common areas where the coronavirus hides in the brain.
- The study also suggests that the virus may not be solely responsible for all the damage in the brain; other factors such as inflammation, low oxygen levels, blood stickiness, and cardiac issues may contribute to observed EEG abnormalities beyond the frontal lobes.
- In approximately 70% of the patients examined, the team discovered "diffuse slowing" in the overall electrical activity of the brain, indicating brain dysfunction.
- Aside from EEG findings, research suggests that COVID-19 might lead to long-term cognitive decline and brain aging, although further investigation is needed to definitively prove this association.
