The knock-out punches of COVID-19 just keep coming. A new study shows that the virus is actually capable of shrinking people’s brains, accelerating a process that naturally occurs with aging.

Published in the journal Nature and conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford, the study was conducted to examine the impact of COVID-19 on the brain, to see if it would increase the odds of people contracting dementia in the future.

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Bloomberg explains that the study looked at brain scans taken before the pandemic began and afterwards, following the contagion of almost half of the participants, the majority of which were between the ages of 51 and 81.

Researchers were impressed by the results they found. Brains have the ability to heal themselves, a process known as neuroplasticity. Still, some subjects showed evidence of serious brain damage, with their scans showing a reduction in a variety of areas, including the one that processes the smell. The scans of people who had COVID-19 showed a 0.2%-to-2% reduction in brain size when compared to the people who weren’t infected, while also showing greater cognitive decline. For reference purposes, researchers said that a 0.2 decrease in brain size was barely noticeable in performance, but a 2% reduction was akin to the passage of 10 years time. The older the infected patient, the worse the harm.

Unlike many respiratory viruses, the impact of COVID-19 goes beyond the lungs and respiratory system. Among its most discussed side effects are brain fog, fatigue and symptoms of long COVID-19, which can plague people for months after infection. The impact of the virus on the brain shows a connection between these issues and is evidence of its indiscriminate symptoms.

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While helpful and necessary, the study’s results are alarming. They show that the medical community will have to learn how to deal with these symptoms and provide aid to a growing percentage of people who might start presenting them in a few years’ time, long after the pandemic stops being a threat.

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