5 ms·

Coronavirus could age the brain by 10 years or cause IQ to fall

35 points by redm 6y ago

intotheabyss 6y ago
I'll ask the question people are going to inevitably bring up: Is this common for other viral illnesses like influenza? Or is this specific to covid? Another question I have is, does covid affect the brain directly, or indirectly (i.e. through widespread inflammation) ? I have suspicions to the answers to these questions, just from browsing some of the recent literature, but I'm not at all an expert, so I just wanted to hear others thoughts.
- deleted 6y ago
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- deleted 6y ago
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- klyrs 6y ago
  I had an extremely bad flu once. Set me back for about 2 weeks. I do believe that it reduced my intelligence. Always hard to say with this stuff, but I was in university and the difficulty level seemed to take a significant step up after I recovered... but math is hard! Had a significant concussion about a decade later, and experienced a similar drop in apparent intelligence and motivation -- which reinforces my belief that the impact was real (with the concussion, I experienced some tangible recovery as well). But... just because this can happen as a result of an extreme flu, doesn't mean that we should take these risks lightly just because they're familiar. I think I'd be a better person, and a more productive member of society, without those injuries.
  - xenonite 6y ago
    Did the drop vanish after a while or do you think the loss is permanent?
    - klyrs 6y ago
      I think both incidents resulted in a permanent loss, but again, it's really hard to say for sure (every day is an anecdote). With the concussion, I noticed tangible improvement over the course of several months (in the first week, trying to think would quickly induce headaches). Within a month of the flu; within a year of the concussion, I still felt foggier than before, and the fog stopped noticeably lifting.
- greedo 6y ago
  Cancer patients who undergo chemo/radiation treatment often talk about "Chemo brain." I've experienced it, but determining causality is tough. Is it due to the stress of having cancer and all that entails? Is it due to the treatment itself? I have noticed that I'm not as cognitively sharp as I was prior to chemo, but I've also aged 15 years as well.
- sjg007 6y ago
  Yes, Covid-19 can infect brain cells directly and it can also cause strokes, heart attacks and neurological issues.https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02599-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02599-5 And Yes, influenza can too. H5N1 does too (bird flu): https://www.jneurosci.org/content/38/12/3060 https://www.jneurosci.org/content/38/12/3060 Inflammation also causes damage.
  - sharken 6y ago
    Yes, people in intensive care or on ventilator are very close to dying, so it could absolutely affect the body and brain as described. Thing is, that very few with Corona get to such a serious condition fortunately, so this applies to a very limited number of people.
nickthemagicman 6y ago
Covid Toes, multi system organ damage, 10 year brain aging, evasion of the immune system....the media is really having the field day with this.
- gnusty_gnurc 6y ago
  Don't forget the Kawasaki epidemic among children...that occurred at the same time this happens every year normally.
  - nickthemagicman 6y ago
    Right! For some reason the news media can put anything on blast to the entire world. Even stuff that isn't peer reviewed and no legit medical establishment would use to determine treatments or diagnosis. Even crystal and chakra 'science' can find somewhere to get published.
cookiengineer 6y ago
For people wanting to read the source (aka study): [1] [1] https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.20.20215863v1 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.20.20215863v...
gentleman11 6y ago
Off topic, but is this a good news source? I know there is a popular uk news service that is mostly editorial and I always forget which
- robotmay 6y ago
  The Times is a News Corp paper so personally I don't trust or read it. Most of the news here in the UK is abysmal but the worst big papers are The Sun and The Daily Mail (probably the one you were thinking of).
8bitsrule 6y ago
It follows that lung damage (which can be, ironically, caused by breathing more than 50% oxygen) might lead to lower oxygen levels. "The brain requires a constant supply of glucose and oxygen. However, if you have a chronic lung disease such as emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis or COPD, having enough blood oxygen can be challenging.... The brain uses about 25 percent of your oxygen intake, so avoiding low oxygen and brain damage is important.... When your blood oxygen falls below a certain level, the result is called hypoxemia. The symptoms of hypoxemia include extreme shortness of breath, headache, confusion and restlessness." - https://lunginstitute.com/blog/oxygen-and-brain-damage/ https://lunginstitute.com/blog/oxygen-and-brain-damage/ "The coronavirus damages both the wall and lining cells of the alveolus as well as the capillaries. The debris that accumulates because of all of that damage lines the wall of the alveolus the same way paint would cover a wall...." - https://health.clevelandclinic.org/heres-the-damage-coronavirus-covid-19-can-do-to-your-lungs/ https://health.clevelandclinic.org/heres-the-damage-coronavi...
nonsapreiche 6y ago
as far as I understand, if the brain doesnt't get enough oxigen it will be damaged and loose some functions

35 points by redm 6y ago

I'll ask the question people are going to inevitably bring up: Is this common for other viral illnesses like influenza? Or is this specific to covid? Another question I have is, does covid affect the brain directly, or indirectly (i.e. through widespread inflammation) ? I have suspicions to the answers to these questions, just from browsing some of the recent literature, but I'm not at all an expert, so I just wanted to hear others thoughts.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
klyrs 6y ago
I had an extremely bad flu once. Set me back for about 2 weeks. I do believe that it reduced my intelligence. Always hard to say with this stuff, but I was in university and the difficulty level seemed to take a significant step up after I recovered... but math is hard! Had a significant concussion about a decade later, and experienced a similar drop in apparent intelligence and motivation -- which reinforces my belief that the impact was real (with the concussion, I experienced some tangible recovery as well). But... just because this can happen as a result of an extreme flu, doesn't mean that we should take these risks lightly just because they're familiar. I think I'd be a better person, and a more productive member of society, without those injuries.
- xenonite 6y ago
  Did the drop vanish after a while or do you think the loss is permanent?
  - klyrs 6y ago
    I think both incidents resulted in a permanent loss, but again, it's really hard to say for sure (every day is an anecdote). With the concussion, I noticed tangible improvement over the course of several months (in the first week, trying to think would quickly induce headaches). Within a month of the flu; within a year of the concussion, I still felt foggier than before, and the fog stopped noticeably lifting.
greedo 6y ago
Cancer patients who undergo chemo/radiation treatment often talk about "Chemo brain." I've experienced it, but determining causality is tough. Is it due to the stress of having cancer and all that entails? Is it due to the treatment itself? I have noticed that I'm not as cognitively sharp as I was prior to chemo, but I've also aged 15 years as well.
sjg007 6y ago
Yes, Covid-19 can infect brain cells directly and it can also cause strokes, heart attacks and neurological issues.https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02599-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02599-5 And Yes, influenza can too. H5N1 does too (bird flu): https://www.jneurosci.org/content/38/12/3060 https://www.jneurosci.org/content/38/12/3060 Inflammation also causes damage.
- sharken 6y ago
  Yes, people in intensive care or on ventilator are very close to dying, so it could absolutely affect the body and brain as described. Thing is, that very few with Corona get to such a serious condition fortunately, so this applies to a very limited number of people.

nickthemagicman 6y ago

Covid Toes, multi system organ damage, 10 year brain aging, evasion of the immune system....the media is really having the field day with this.

gnusty_gnurc 6y ago
Don't forget the Kawasaki epidemic among children...that occurred at the same time this happens every year normally.
- nickthemagicman 6y ago
  Right! For some reason the news media can put anything on blast to the entire world. Even stuff that isn't peer reviewed and no legit medical establishment would use to determine treatments or diagnosis. Even crystal and chakra 'science' can find somewhere to get published.

cookiengineer 6y ago

For people wanting to read the source (aka study): [1] [1] https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.20.20215863v1 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.20.20215863v...

gentleman11 6y ago

Off topic, but is this a good news source? I know there is a popular uk news service that is mostly editorial and I always forget which

robotmay 6y ago
The Times is a News Corp paper so personally I don't trust or read it. Most of the news here in the UK is abysmal but the worst big papers are The Sun and The Daily Mail (probably the one you were thinking of).

8bitsrule 6y ago

It follows that lung damage (which can be, ironically, caused by breathing more than 50% oxygen) might lead to lower oxygen levels. "The brain requires a constant supply of glucose and oxygen. However, if you have a chronic lung disease such as emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis or COPD, having enough blood oxygen can be challenging.... The brain uses about 25 percent of your oxygen intake, so avoiding low oxygen and brain damage is important.... When your blood oxygen falls below a certain level, the result is called hypoxemia. The symptoms of hypoxemia include extreme shortness of breath, headache, confusion and restlessness." - https://lunginstitute.com/blog/oxygen-and-brain-damage/ https://lunginstitute.com/blog/oxygen-and-brain-damage/ "The coronavirus damages both the wall and lining cells of the alveolus as well as the capillaries. The debris that accumulates because of all of that damage lines the wall of the alveolus the same way paint would cover a wall...." - https://health.clevelandclinic.org/heres-the-damage-coronavirus-covid-19-can-do-to-your-lungs/ https://health.clevelandclinic.org/heres-the-damage-coronavi...

nonsapreiche 6y ago

as far as I understand, if the brain doesnt't get enough oxigen it will be damaged and loose some functions