2 years after infection, COVID-19 dementia risk is increased
Participants with COVID-19 are more likely to experience brain fog and dementia, as well as other neurological and mental health disorders, according to a large study including more than 1.25 million people.
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A recent significant academic study suggests that patients who recovered from COVID-19 may continue to be at elevated risk for dementia for two years following recovery.
The results of this study, which polled over 1.25 million people, were only just published in The Lancet Psychiatry, a peer-reviewed academic magazine.
The study provides information on the short- and long-term neurological and psychological effects of COVID-19.
What is brain fog? What does brain fog feel like?
There is nothing specifically scientific or medical about the term "brain fog." Instead, it's a way that people express their emotions.
According to the health blog at Harvard University, brain fog symptoms are when a person's thinking is cloudy, slow, and unfocused.
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Now, there are a variety of potential causes for brain fog. Being overtired, on a particular medication, or suffering with another illness are just a few examples. And as these causes ultimately go away, the mental fog will disappear.
Here's how Covid affects mental health and brain disorders
For up to two years, we monitored the occurrence of 14 significant neurological and psychiatric disorders in patients.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the incidence of neurological illnesses and mental health issues among COVID survivors has been of concern. According to a number of studies, a sizable percentage of people experience issues of this nature, and the dangers are higher than those associated with other infections.
Several queries nevertheless remain. When do the dangers of neurological and psychological issues diminish, if at all? Are the hazards the same for kids and adults? Do the COVID variations differ from one another?
These topics were covered in our recent study, which was released in The Lancet Psychiatry. My colleague Maxime Taquet and I used the electronic health data of 1.25 million persons with COVID, predominantly from the US, for analysis. For up to two years, we observed the occurrence of 14 significant neurological and psychiatric disorders in these patients.
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We contrasted these risks with those of a carefully matched control group of individuals who had been identified as having a different respiratory infection than COVID.
Children (under the age of 18), adults (aged 18 to 65), and older persons (over 65) were all evaluated independently.
Additionally, we contrasted individuals who developed COVID immediately following the appearance of a new variant (particularly omicron, but also earlier variants) with those who did so immediately prior.
Both positive and negative news can be gleaned from our findings. Fortunately, while finding a higher incidence of common psychological problems (such as anxiety and depression) during COVID infection, this elevated risk quickly decreased. There was no overall excess of these illnesses over the two-year period, and the rates of these disorders among COVID patients were comparable to those of patients with other respiratory infections within a few months.
The fact that children were not more at risk for these illnesses at any point following COVID infection was also welcome news.
Mixed results
Overall, our data paints a contrasting picture, with some conditions showing a temporary extra risk following COVID and others having a permanent risk. With a few alarming exceptions, the findings are generally encouraging among children.
Results on omicron, the version that is currently prevalent around the world, show that the burden of these disorders is likely to persist, despite the fact that this variant is milder than others.
Important caveats apply to the study. Our findings do not include individuals who may have had COVID but whose condition was not noted in their medical records, maybe because they did not exhibit symptoms.
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