Coronavirus: even mild cases may change the brain and shrink grey matter, finds Oxford study

Name: Hong Kong public hospitals hanging by a thread amid surge of fifth-wave Covid cases
Uploaded: 2022-03-07T16:05:16.000Z
Duration: 3 min 59 s
Description: Hong Kong public hospitals hanging by a thread amid surge of fifth-wave Covid cases

Researchers tap into British biobank data to assess brain health before and after coronavirus infection

Data shows significant impact associated with the virus, mainly in areas responsible for emotions, memory and smell

Reading Time:3 minutes

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An Oxford University study of 785 UK Biobank subjects found those who had been infected with Covid-19 had a 1.3-1.8 per cent loss of grey matter compared to an estimated 0.2 to 0.3 per cent loss of brain volume a year in normal middle-aged individuals. Photo: Shutterstock

Zhuang Pinghui

Published: 12:05am, 8 Mar 2022

Even a mild Covid-19 infection may cause the structure of the brain to change in areas associated with smell, memory, cognition and emotions, a study by Oxford University has found.

Gwenaelle Douaud, associate professor with the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, and her colleagues based the assessment on a study of brain scan data from UK Biobank, a large databank of in-depth health information from more than half a million adults in Britain. The study was published in the journal Nature on Tuesday.

From the UK Biobank records, researchers identified 401 participants who had brain MRI scans an average 38 months apart and whose health records showed they were infected with Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

Researchers included a control group of 384 participants who were slightly older, underwent the same MRI protocol but tested negative for Covid-19. The study participants were between 51 and 81 years old and the vast majority of the infected participants had not been admitted to hospital, or even showed symptoms.

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Hong Kong public hospitals hanging by a thread amid surge of fifth-wave Covid cases

The study revealed a “significant, deleterious” impact associated with Sars-CoV-2, mainly in the limbic and olfactory cortical system – areas generally responsible for emotions, memory and smell.

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Coronavirus: even mild cases may change the brain and shrink grey matter, finds Oxford study

Researchers tap into British biobank data to assess brain health before and after coronavirus infection Data shows significant impact associated with the virus, mainly in areas responsible for emotions, memory and smell

Researchers tap into British biobank data to assess brain health before and after coronavirus infection

Data shows significant impact associated with the virus, mainly in areas responsible for emotions, memory and smell