Infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus can significantly accelerate dementia in patients (representative)
New Delhi:
Infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus can significantly accelerate dementia in patients already suffering from the neurodegenerative disorder, according to a study conducted in West Bengal.
The study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease Reports, found that participants with all subtypes of dementia experienced rapidly progressive dementia after infection with SARS-CoV-2.
Insights into the impact of COVID-19 on human cognition have so far remained unclear, with neurologists calling it “brain fog.”
The researchers examined the effects of COVID-19 on cognitive impairment in 14 patients with pre-existing dementia who had experienced further cognitive decline following infection with SARS-CoV-2.
The patients included four with Alzheimer’s disease, five with vascular dementia, three with Parkinson’s disease and two with the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia.
They were recruited from a total of 550 patients with dementia who visited the wards of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, Bangur Institute of Neurosciences and private cognitive specialist clinics in West Bengal between May 2013 and September 2022.
The researchers found that the characteristics of a certain type of dementia changed after COVID-19, and both degenerative and vascular dementia began to behave like mixed dementia.
A rapidly and aggressively worsening course was observed in patients with insidious onset, slowly progressive dementia and who were previously cognitively stable, they said.
Cortical atrophy, which causes the loss of brain cells, was also evident in subsequent follow-ups of the study, the researchers said.
Coagulopathy involving small blood vessels and inflammation, which were further correlated with changes in white matter intensity in the brain, was considered the most important pathogenetic indicator, they said.
The rapid progression of dementia, the addition of further impairments of cognitive abilities, and the increase or new appearance of white matter lesions suggest that previously affected brains have little resistance to resist a new infection. “Brain fog is an ambiguous terminology with no specific attribution to the spectrum of post-COVID-19 cognitive consequences,” said lead researcher Souvik Dubey of the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences.
“Based on the progression of cognitive deficits and its association with changes in white matter intensity, we propose a new term: ‘FADE-IN MEMORY’ (fatigue, decreased fluency, attention deficit, depression, executive dysfunction, slowed information processing speed and subcortical MEMORY disorder),’ Mr Dubey said.
The researcher noted that as aging and dementia increase globally, pattern recognition of COVID-19-associated cognitive impairment is urgently needed to differentiate between COVID-19-associated cognitive impairment and other forms of dementia.
“This insight will have a definitive impact on future dementia research,” added Dubey.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
