July 30, 2021 – Infection from COVID-19 could have a significant negative impact on intelligence, according to a new, broad-based scale study From the UK, findings that align with reports of ‘brain fog’ among long-distance COVID-19 patients.
The researchers analyzed data from 81,337 people who took the Great British Intelligence Test in 2020. Of these, about 13,000 reported having COVID-19, and 275 of those completed the test before and after infection.
Those who have already obtained Corona Virus The authors found it more difficult to complete tasks related to reasoning, problem solving, and spatial planning. The researchers controlled for age, education, and general mood.
“These findings are consistent with long COVID reports, where”brain Fog, the authors wrote, “difficulty concentrating, and difficulty finding the right words are common.” “Recovering from COVID-19 infection may be associated with particularly pronounced problems in aspects of higher cognitive or ‘executive’ functions.
Working memory space and emotional processing do not appear to be affected.
The extent of the cognitive decline appears to be related to the severity of the injury. The researchers said those who were placed Ventilator While the disease showed most of the substantive effects. On average, their score decreased by 7 IQ points.
“The magnitude of the observed deficit was not insignificant,” the authors wrote. But they said brain imaging was needed before firm conclusions could be drawn.
“It is important to exercise caution when inferring a neurobiological or psychological basis for the deficits observed without brain imaging data, although the assessment tasks used here have been demonstrated to map different networks within the human brain in terms of normal functional activity and connectivity such as in addition to structural damage to the network. “.
Researchers speculate that high temperature Respiratory problems may have contributed to cognitive decline. But those symptoms were long gone for most of the people in the study — the authors noted that only 4.8% of them reported lingering symptoms.
The study provides insight into one part of the post-COVID situation – one that has been closely tracked by Center for Disease Control. According to the agency, long-term COVID-19 can include a range of symptoms that linger several months after infection, including shortness of breath, Headache, common or muscle painDizziness and difficulty thinking or concentrating, otherwise known as ‘brain fog’.