Brain changes in severe COVID-19 may be linked to ageing

Image source: ‘The Elusive Brain by David Coynel, University of Basel. Linked here.

A recent study found that severe COVID-19 leads to changes in the brain that mirror those seen in old age.

Previous studies have observed significant cognitive deficits in people with severe COVID-19, such as an impaired ability to reason, plan, or pay selective attention. Other reports have shown that severe COVID-19 impairs the frontal cortex – a brain region closely tied to cognition. However, evidence providing a molecular basis for COVID-19-related cognitive deficits is lacking.

Maria Mavrikaki and her colleagues at Harvard Medical School sought to examine possible molecular changes underlying the deficits in cognition observed in severe COVID-19. The team looked at brain samples from individuals who suffered a severe COVID-19 infection at death, comparing these with samples from uninfected people.

Mavrikaki found that individuals with severe COVID-19 had brain changes similar in profile to the brains of old people in their seventies or older. Genes associated with inflammation and stress were shown to be more active in the brains of these patients than in uninfected individuals, suggesting that the virus may trigger cognitive decline through inflammation rather than by viral infiltration of the brain.

These results could guide treatment for people with sustained cognitive deficits in the aftermath of a COVID-19 infection.