Researchers are trying to figure out why some COVID-19 survivors have persistent “brain fog” and other symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s disease.
The preliminary results were presented at a meeting of the Alzheimer’s Association on Thursday. Experts emphasize that much more research is needed—and is already underway—to determine whether COVID-19 increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease or other brain problems later in life, or if people can recover.
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Argentine scientists found that within six months after illness, a large number of dementia changes are observed in the memory and thinking of older people, regardless of the severity of the disease.
The possibilities “are real and troubling,” but it’s too soon to know “whether this is really going to result in long-term cognitive change,” cautioned Dr Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging.
His agency was not involved in Thursday’s study, but it has launched its own large investigation to find out.
“If you did have COVID, this does not necessarily mean that you will be impacted,” agreed the Alzheimer’s Association’s Heather Snyder.
But protecting the brain from COVID-19 offers yet another reason to get vaccinated, she added.
Some indications of the risk come from a study tracking approximately 300 people in Argentina’s Jujuy province, which maintained a health registry of anyone tested for the virus, regardless of whether they had symptoms. Researchers combed the registry for people 60 and older who had no prior history of brain disorders and asked if they’d be willing to undergo cognitive testing.
“It’s quite scary, if I have to put it bluntly,” said Dr. Gabriel de Erausquin of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, who is leading the study.
Between three and six months after coronavirus infection, approximately 20% of older adults experienced difficulties with short-term memory. And 34% had more severe impairment, such as difficulty finding words and difficulties with longer-term memory, which de Erausquin referred to as a “dementia-like syndrome.”
Another study in the United States also confirmed that proteins associated with dementia were found in the blood of elderly New Yorkers who had neurological symptoms in the early stages of COVID-19.
New York University-Langone Health researchers took a different approach, testing the blood of over 300 older adults hospitalised for COVID-19. Around half developed new neurologic symptoms such as confusion as a result of the coronavirus infection, and the researchers discovered an increase in their blood levels of proteins associated with nervous system inflammation, brain cell injury, and Alzheimer’s disease.
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This indicates that the brain is responding to injury, but it will take time to determine whether the abnormal levels represent true Alzheimer’s-like changes or a transient blip, according to Dr. Eliezer Masliah of the National Institute on Aging, who was not involved in the research. He noted that one of the proteins that malfunctions in Alzheimer’s disease also plays a critical role in the brain’s defence against infection.
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