COVID-19 Brain Fog Is Lowering IQ Scores
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Many people who’ve gotten sick with COVID-19 have reported lingering symptoms of brain fog, including trouble with memory, concentration, and attention.
“In this observational study, we found objectively measurable cognitive deficits that may persist for a year or more after COVID-19,” wrote Adam Hampshire, PhD, a cognitive neuroscientist and a professor with the faculty of medicine in the department of brain sciences at Imperial College London, and his collaborators.
Long COVID and Hospitalization Led to Even Greater IQ Drops
For those with long COVID — defined by study investigators as symptoms that last more than 12 weeks after a positive test — the IQ drop on average was equal to 6 points. People who ended up in an intensive care unit because of COVID-19 infection showed a 9-point drop in IQ.
Reinfection contributed an additional loss of nearly 2 IQ points, as compared with no reinfection, according to the findings.
A small cognitive advantage was noted among those who had received two or more vaccinations. Also, the scientists observed smaller cognitive deficits among individuals who had been infected during recent variant periods as opposed to those who had been infected with the original virus.
How IQ Results Affect Everyday Function Remains a Question
The analysis was based on responses from nearly 113,000 adults age 18 and older who completed an online cognitive assessment. Results from the cognitive testing were translated to an IQ scale. About 60 percent were female and 95 percent were white.
Just over 46,000 reported never having COVID, and about the same number said they had been infected but symptoms had lasted less than four weeks. About 3,200 had symptoms continuing between 4 and 12 weeks, and around 3,600 experienced effects longer than 12 weeks.
“For example, what are the functional implications of a 3-point loss in IQ?” wrote Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, and Clifford Rosen, MD, a professor of medicine at Tufts University in Boston. “Whether one group of persons is affected more severely than others is not clear. Whether these cognitive deficits persist or resolve along with predictors and trajectory of recovery should be investigated.”
Further Evidence COVID May Have a Long-Term Impact on the Brain
“This research confirms a very large number of studies showing that long COVID is associated with cognitive problems,” says Igor Koralnik, MD, the chief of neuro-infectious disease in the department of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.
Dr. Koralnik, who was not involved in the research, noted that the results in this analysis were limited because they were based on responses to an internet survey. Also, the study was observational in design, so it could only show an association and not establish that COVID was the cause of lower IQ scores.
“The implications of longer-term persistence of cognitive deficits and their clinical relevance remain unclear and warrant ongoing surveillance,” concluded the study authors.
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