COVID-19 may cause disturbances in the electrical functioning of the frontal lobes of the brain.
Scientists have been digging into the brains of folks with severe COVID-19, and they're finding some pretty interesting stuff. Research suggests that, apart from the lungs, the nervous system might also take a hit from this viral nastiness.
Approximately 15-25% of patients battling severe COVID-19 might experience neurological symptoms. These symptoms can range from headaches to confusion, delirium, strokes, and seizures. To get a better understanding of COVID-19's impact on the brain, researchers took a gander at Electroencephalography (EEG) results from 617 patients.
The typical patient undergoing an EEG test was around 61 years old, with two-thirds being male. Out of these, the researchers found that the slowing of brain waves and abnormal electrical discharges were the most common findings. Interestingly, they discovered that the more severe the disease, the more pronounced the EEG abnormalities. Furthermore, these abnormalities were more common among patients with preexisting neurological conditions, such as epilepsy.
When it comes to the virus entering the brain, specialists like Dr. Zulfi Haneef, an assistant professor of neurology/neurophysiology at Baylor College of Medicine, believe there's a connection between the nose and the brain. Given that the virus most likely enters through the nose, the frontal lobes, which are located next to the nose, seem to be the most affected.
It's important to note that the virus might not be the sole culprit behind the damage. Other factors potentially contributing to EEG abnormalities include inflammation, low oxygen levels, sticky blood, and cardiac arrest. The study also highlighted "diffuse slowing" in the background electrical activity of the whole brain in almost 70% of patients.
Some people who recover from COVID-19 still deal with lingering health problems, now referred to as long COVID. Among these problems is "brain fog." A recent study found that individuals who claimed to have had COVID-19 performed poorly on an online cognitive test compared to those who were uninfected.
These findings add to the concerns regarding long-term issues resulting from COVID-19. Dr. Haneef points out that the EEG abnormalities associated with the neurological symptoms of COVID-19 strengthen these concerns.
"Many individuals think that they'll recover from COVID-19 and things will go back to normal. However, these findings suggest that there might be long-term issues, which we've long suspected, and now there's more evidence to back that up," says Dr. Haneef.
On the bright side, the study shows that about 56.8% of patients showed improvements in follow-up EEG tests. Nevertheless, the researchers noted some limitations, such as the lack of raw data from individual studies, possible omissions of normal EEGs, and the administration of anti-seizure medications to patients with suspected seizures, which may have obscured signs of seizures in EEG traces.
So, while we continue to battle the pandemic, let's not forget to also pay attention to the potential long-term effects it might have on our brains. Keep an eye on those developing studies for more insights into this area of ongoing research.
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[2] Huang Z, Xia L, Zhang Y, et al. CT and MR findings in 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia. Lan Dadi Wei Shen Wai Bing Bao. 2020;36(9):748-753.
[3] Liu N, Wang Y, Liu G, et al. Neurological manifestations of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. JAMA Neurol. 2020;77(5):589-590. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2020.1049
[4] Tavazzi L, Zangrilli G, Salardi C, et al. COVID-19 patients can present with encephalopathy as a manifestation of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. JAMA Neurol. 2020;77(5):591-592. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2020.1193
- Apart from lung issues, the coronavirus may also cause neurological conditions, such as seizures, in approximately 15-25% of patients battling severe COVID-19.
- Researchers conducting EEG tests on patients with COVID-19 found that the more severe the disease, the more pronounced the EEG abnormalities, especially among those with pre-existing neurological conditions like epilepsy.
- Long-term effects of COVID-19, often referred to as 'long COVID', may include "brain fog," and the study's findings add to the concerns about the long-term impact of the virus on health-and-wellness, including neurological-disorders and medical-conditions.
