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Even mild cases of COVID-19 can serve as a brain structure, according to preliminary research.
“Our findings suggest a serious trend of adjustments in the way the brain communicates, as well as in its structure, primarily in other people with anxiety and depression with a prolonged COVID syndrome, which affects many other people,” said researcher Clarissa Yasuda, MD. PhD, of the University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, said in a press release.
“The magnitude of these adjustments suggests that they could lead to memory and thinking disorders, so we want to explore holistic remedies even for others mildly affected by COVID-19,” Yasuda added.
The study was published early, ahead of its presentation at the upcoming 2023 annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in April.
Some studies have shown a peak prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms among COVID-19 survivors, but few have investigated related brain changes, Yasuda told Medscape Medical News.
The study included 254 adults (177 women, 77 men, average age 41) who had mild COVID-19 an average of 82 days earlier. A total of 102 other people had symptoms of anxiety and depression and 152 had none of those symptoms.
On brain imaging, other people with COVID-19 and anxiety and depression had atrophy in the limbic region of the brain, which plays a role in memory and emotional processing.
No narrowing in this domain was evident in other people with COVID-19 without anxiety or depression or in a healthy organization of Americans without COVID-19.
The researchers also observed a “severe” trend of functional brain connectivity in other people with COVID-19 and anxiety and depression.
In this functional connectivity analysis, other people with COVID-19 and anxiety and depression showed generalized functional adjustments in the 12 networks assessed, while people with COVID-19 without symptoms of anxiety and depression showed adjustments in only five networks.
“Unfortunately, the underlying mechanisms related to brain adjustments and neuropsychiatric disorder after COVID-19 infection are unclear,” Yasuda told Medscape Medical News.
“Some studies have shown a combination of anxiety and depression symptoms with inflammation. However, we hypothesized that these brain alterations would possibly be the result of a more complex interplay of social, mental and systemic stressors, in addition to inflammation. In fact, it is intriguing that such alterations are provided in other people who have had a mild acute infection,” Yasuda added.
“Symptoms of anxiety and depression are noticed after COVID-19 and are part of the long-term COVID syndrome for some people. These symptoms require treatment good enough to improve quality of life, cognition and mental ability,” he said.
Treating those symptoms can induce “brain plasticity, which can lead to some gray matter building up and, in all likelihood, will prevent further structural and functional damage,” Yasuda said.
One limitation of the study is that symptoms of anxiety and depression were self-reported, meaning other people might have misjudged or misreported symptoms.
Commenting on the Medscape Medical News findings, Cyrus Raji, MD, PhD, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, University of Washington, St. Louis, Missouri, said the concept that COVID-19 is bad for the brain is new.
As previously reported via Medscape Medical News, at the beginning of the pandemic, Raji and his colleagues published an article detailing the effects of COVID-19 on the brain and Raji followed it up with a TED statement on the subject. (Raji was not concerned about Yasuda’s team for this ongoing study. )
“In the developing context of what we already know about COVID-19 infection and its adverse effects on the brain, this painting adds to this wisdom by identifying functional and structural neuroimaging abnormalities similar to anxiety and depression in other people with COVID-19 infection. Raji said.
The study supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation. Authors have no applicable disclosures. Raji is a representative for Brainreader, Apollo Health, Pacific Neuroscience Foundation and Neurevolution LLC.
2023 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting: 1998 Abstract. It will be on April 24, 2023.
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Credits:Main image: Martinmark/DreamstimeImage 1: Dr. Clarissa Yasuda
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