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 A study by researchers at University College London (UCL)described
43 cases of patients with COVID-19 who suffered either temporary
brain dysfunction, strokes, nerve damage or other serious brain
effects.
The research adds to recent studies which also found the disease can
damage the brain.
"Whether we will see an epidemic on a large scale of brain damage
linked to the pandemic – perhaps similar to the encephalitis
lethargica outbreak in the 1920s and 1930s after the 1918 influenza
pandemic – remains to be seen," said Michael Zandi, from UCL's
Institute of Neurology, who co-led the study.
COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, is largely a
respiratory illness that affects the lungs, but neuroscientists and
specialist brain doctors say emerging evidence of its impact on the
brain is concerning.
"My worry is that we have millions of people with COVID-19 now. And
if in a year's time we have 10 million recovered people, and those
people have cognitive deficits ... then that's going to affect their
ability to work and their ability to go about activities of daily
living," Adrian Owen, a neuroscientist at Western University in
Canada, told Reuters in an interview.
In the UCL study, published in the journal Brain, nine patients who
had brain inflammation were diagnosed with a rare condition called
acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) which is more usually
seen in children and can be triggered by viral infections.
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The team said it would normally see about one adult patient with ADEM per month
at their specialist London clinic, but this had risen to at least one a week
during the study period, something they described as "a concerning increase".
"Given that the disease has only been around for a matter of months, we might
not yet know what long-term damage COVID-19 can cause," said Ross Paterson, who
co-led the study. "Doctors need to be aware of possible neurological effects, as
early diagnosis can improve patient outcomes."
Owen said the emerging evidence underlined the need for large, detailed studies
and global data collection to assess how common such neurological and
psychiatric complications were.
He is running a international research project at covidbrainstudy.com where
patients can sign up to complete a series of cognitive tests to see whether
their brain functions have altered since getting COVID-19.
"This disease is affecting an enormous number of people," Owen said. "That's why
it's so important to collect this information now."
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Alison Williams)
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