People who had COVID-19 "frequently experience lingering neurological symptoms, including impairment in attention, concentration, speed of information processing and memory," similar to patients with cancer therapy-related cognitive impairment that is known to involve inflammation of the brain, the researchers explained in a report posted on bioRxiv ahead of peer review.
In the brains of patients who died of COVID-19, the researchers found evidence of inflammation along with high levels of inflammatory proteins, one of which, CCL11, is linked with impairments in nervous system health and cognitive function.
Among 63 patients with so-called long COVID, the researchers found high CCL11 levels in the 48 with lingering cognitive symptoms, but not in the 15 without cognitive issues. They speculate that treatments showing promise for cancer therapy-related cognitive impairment might be helpful for COVID-19 patients with similar problems. But they would need to be tested specifically for long COVID.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3zQVN8i bioRxiv, online January 10, 2022.
By Reuters Staff
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