New studies add to the request for better support for long COVID patients

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A new UK study showing the loss of gray matter in the brains of people infected with COVID-19 is called the most conclusive evidence of the serious long-term effects of the virus on the brain.

Using a brain scan performed before the pandemic as part of a large UK health imaging study, researchers returned some participants who had COVID-19 to further tests before and after the scan. I compared. These results were then compared before and after the scan of participants who did not test positive for COVID-19. Most of the people who tested positive were mild or moderate cases.

Researchers reported identifying “significant effects of COVID-19 on the brain with gray matter loss” in several areas, including areas involved in memory, smell, and taste.

Alan Evans, a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the Institute of Neurology in Montreal and McGill University, said the unreviewed findings are important.

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“This study shows that COVID-19 has” long-term effects on the brain, “he said. Study author, Gwenael Oxford University Duo, Note that some of the changes seen in people’s brains after COVID-19 are similar to those seen in dementia.

Evans said the findings call for more focus on the potential long-term effects of COVID-19 on the brain and their effects.

“The long-term effects play the second fiddle because people are focusing on the acute effects of COVID-19. The long-term effects can have a significant impact on society and are very significant. You may have been with us for a long time. “

According to experts, the study needs a more collaborative effort to support and treat thousands of Canadians suffering from the sequelae of COVID-19, especially those with cognitive and neurological problems. Is emphasized.

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This is what COVID long-haul carriers, the names of people suffering from long-term health effects after COVID-19, are looking for. Many say that concerns about brain fog, lack of concentration, and cognitive impairment after COVID-19 have been dismissed by medical professionals, making it difficult to find treatment or support. Long-haul carriers across Canada and around the world have formed support groups to help them deal with it.

“This is an interesting test of what COVID patients have said for over a year,” said Chandra Pasma, an Ottawa woman. More than a year after she became infected, many long-standing COVID symptoms have begun to improve. “COVID infection alone can cause some physical changes in the brain, but it’s still unclear if we’re fully aware of it.”

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Pasma and others point out countries that have invested heavily in long-COVID research, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Italy, or, in the case of the United Kingdom and Italy, countries that have established rehab centers or long COVID clinics for patients. doing. They say Canada needs more.

Several clinics have been opened in parts of Canada, but there has been no coordinated effort to diagnose and treat patients in Ontario.

And that number is probably high.

According to a study published in Lancet Psychology in April, 34% of COVID-19 survivors were diagnosed with neurological or psychological conditions 6 months after infection.

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One estimate is that Canada has more than 400,000 long-haul carriers, including a higher proportion of front-line workers infected than most of the population. .. Not all long-haul carriers suffer from cognitive sequelae. For example, Pasma stated that he initially experienced brain fog, but long-distance symptoms were primarily other symptoms such as rash and malaise.

Susie Goulding is one of the long-haul carriers who has been suffering from cognitive problems for over a year after infection. Women in Oakville have formed the online COVID Long Haulers Support Group Canada.

She suffers from brain fog, tinnitus, dizziness and balance problems, among other things. She said the term “brain fog” does not reflect the severity of the symptoms that many long-haul carriers deal with.

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“It ruins your life. It’s very debilitating and you don’t know what will happen in the long run.”

Golding was rehabilitated for three months at the Brain Injury Clinic. It helped her symptoms, but she said she couldn’t get rid of them. But many people can’t get such help, or even take it seriously by their health care providers, she said. As a result, some people are unable to work and face financial and mental health crises.

She recently said she had heard from a nurse suffering from neurocognitive symptoms after COVID-19 that she was trying to quit her job because she couldn’t cope with the debilitating symptoms.

Dr. John Connolly, a scientist at McMaster University, is one of the researchers studying the effects of COVID-19 on brain function. He is the chair of the university’s language cognitive neuroscience.

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His lab, along with startup VoxNeuro, uses EEG neuroimaging to evaluate brain function in people infected with COVID-19. He said ongoing tests have already shown “abnormal and very clear brain reactions” in people infected with COVID-19.

Connolly called the preliminary findings of a British brain scan “very alarming.” The findings are linked to what his lab is observing in the study.

He said it was not unprecedented for the virus to affect people over the next few months or years. The question regarding the effects of COVID-19 on neurocognition is “whether these will be resolved in the future.”

Meanwhile, Evans of the Montreal Institute for Neurology said the long-term effects of severe brain dysfunction after COVID-19 could be “same as dementia” in some people.

He said a British study “requires a closer look at the effects of COVID-19 on the brain.”

“This is a hidden challenge for Canadian society and needs to be addressed in the same way that many neurodegenerative diseases are addressed.”