Severe COVID-19 Cases In People Over 60 Can Incur Brain Damage, Warns Study
Patients over 60 were more susceptible to such diseases, the study concluded.
A new preliminary study on the effects of COVID-19 on the human body warns a possible damage to the brain by the virus in some serious cases.
Through this damage, the novel disease can cause symptoms like stroke, inflammation, psychosis and dementia.
3D Printed Ventilator (Image: Isinnova)
The research comes as the first ever thorough observance of neurological complications caused by COVID-19.
The researchers behind the study now call for more such research to find the mechanisms behind these ailments and find their possible treatments.
¡°This (is) an important snapshot of the brain-related complications of COVID-19 in hospitalised patients. It is critically important that we continue to collect this information to really understand this virus fully,¡± said Sarah Pett, a University College London professor who co-led the work, as quoted in a Reuters report.
The COVID-19 research
An electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (Image: Reuters)
Published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal on Thursday, the study observed 125 cases from across the UK in detail. A thing to note here is that the research focused only on severe COVID-19 cases.
The data for the research was collected from April 2 to April 26, a period when COVID-19 spread was at the peak in the UK. These patients who were observed were ¡°geographically dispersed across the UK¡± as per the researchers.
As per the study, the most common brain complication observed by the researchers was stroke, reported in 77 of 125 patients. Most of these were caused by a blood clot in the brain, known as an ischaemic stroke. The remaining were caused by intracerebral haemorrhage, an internal bleeding within the brain tissue. Patients over 60 were more susceptible to such diseases, the study concluded.
In addition, the study found that 39 of the 125 patients displayed signs of confusion or changes in behaviour. This reflected an altered mental state caused by the infection. Out of the 39 patients, nine had unspecified brain dysfunction, known as encephalopathy, and seven had encephalitis or inflammation of the brain.
