They compared people who had experienced COVID-19 with participants who had not, carefully matching the groups based on age, sex, baseline test date and study location, as well as common risk factors for disease, such as health variables and socioeconomic status.
The team found marked differences in grey matter – or the neurons that process information in the brain – between those who had been infected with COVID-19 and those who had not.
Specifically, the thickness of the grey matter tissue in brain regions known as the frontal and temporal lobes was reduced in the COVID-19 group, differing from the typical patterns seen in the people who hadn’t had a COVID-19 infection.
In the general population, it is normal to see some change in grey matter volume or thickness over time as people age. But the changes were more extensive than normal in those who had been infected with COVID-19.
Interestingly, when the researchers separated the individuals who had severe enough illness to require hospitalisation, the results were the same as for those who had experienced milder COVID-19.
That is, people who had been infected with COVID-19 showed a loss of brain volume even when the disease was not severe enough to require hospitalization.
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