Long COVID-19 ‘brain fog‘ may be a form of Alzheimer‘s disease, says lead author
The SARS-CoV-2 infection, which causes COVID-19, has inflammatory response and neuropathological pathway changes similar to Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to a new study.
Long COVID-19 ‘brain fog‘ may be a form of Alzheimer's disease, said Andrew R Marks, lead author of the study, was quoted as saying in MedPage Today, a New York-based news platform. “But much more research needs to be done before we can make more definitive conclusions.”
The study by researchers from Columbia University’s department of physiology and cellular biophysics looked at the autopsy brain tissue at the Columbia University Biobank of 10 people who succumbed to COVID-19. Four of them were women, aged 38, 74, 76 and 80 while the rest were men between the ages of 57 and 84.
Avindra Nath from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, described the identification of “abnormalities in several molecules which help characterise the neuroglial dysfunction in these patients at a biochemical level” as the major strength of the report published in The Journal of Alzheimer’s Association earlier this month.
The study, however, doesn’t clarify whether the neuropathological signalling recorded is unique to a SARS-CoV-2 infection or not. Previous studies have shown such a reaction in those infected with Ebola and the MERS as well.
The relation between a SARS-CoV-2 infection and Alzheimer's disease has been explored earlier as well. A case report published in Frontiers in Psychology in November last year looked at how ‘brain fog‘, which set in soon after a COVID-19 infection in a 67-year-old woman with history of type 2 diabetes, had “cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers” indicative of Alzhiemer’s.
The patient had no psychiatric history or family history of dementia. She began showing COVID-19 symptoms in March 2020, tested positive six days later and then spent a week in the hospital where she received oxygen therapy, heparin and hydroxychloroquine, among other treatments.
She complained of malaise for two months after she was discharged and continued to test positive till 10 June. Memory loss, difficulties in concentration especially during reading and cognitive fatigue persisted, she complained. After several tests were conducted, she was diagnosed with “AD at a prodromal stage”, also known as mild cognitive impairment caused by AD.
“It is true that some patients exhibit cognitive issues following the acute infection, although the specific mechanisms that explain these symptoms are still unclear,” the report stated. A possible explanation could be the brain damage associated with hypoxia, it added.
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