Long Covid brain fog similar to ageing a decade, researchers say

People who had symptoms of the virus for 12 weeks or more were most affected, a study found.
Brain fog associated with long Covid is comparable to ageing 10 years, researchers have suggested (PA)
PA Wire
Storm Newton21 July 2023

Brain fog associated with long Covid is comparable to ageing 10 years, researchers have suggested.

A study by King’s College London explored the impact of long Covid on thinking and memory skills for a paper published in eClinicalMedicine.

The team studied people included in the Covid Symptom Study Biobank who were recruited via the Covid Symptom Study smartphone app.

People completing the study's first round between July and August 2021" data-source="">

Those in the study included people with Covid and varying degrees of symptoms and people without the illness.

They were given 12 tasks testing memory, attention, reasoning, processing speed and motor control.

Researchers said the impact of Covid on test accuracy “was comparable in size to the effect of a 10-year increase in age” and scores were most affected in people who had symptoms of the virus for 12 weeks or more.

The study was split into two rounds nine months apart.

Some 3,335 people completed the first round, which took place in July and August 2021, with 1,768 going on to complete the second round between April and June 2022.

Researchers found no significant improvement in scores between two rounds.

By the time the second round was conducted, the average time since participants’ initial infection was almost two years.

The fact remains that two years on from their first infection, some people don’t feel fully recovered and their lives continue to be impacted by the long-term effects of the coronavirus

Prof Claire Steves

Lead author Dr Nathan Cheetham, a senior postdoctoral data scientist at King’s College London, said: “This study shows the need to monitor those people whose brain function is most affected by Covid-19 to see how their cognitive symptoms continue to develop and provide support towards recovery.”

People who said they felt fully recovered from Covid – even if they had symptoms for several months – performed similarly to those who had not had the virus at all.

Dr Cheetham hailed this element of the study as “good news”.

Claire Steves, a professor of ageing and health at King’s College London, said: “We used sensitive tests to measure speed and accuracy across a range of brain challenges.

“This study shows that some individuals have measurable changes in these tests after Covid-19 going on for nearly two years.

“The fact remains that two years on from their first infection, some people don’t feel fully recovered and their lives continue to be impacted by the long-term effects of the coronavirus.

“We need more work to understand why this is the case and what can be done to help.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT