Even mild cases of COVID-19 can affect the function and structure of the brain, recent research suggests.
In a recent study which included 254 adults (177 women, 77 men, median age 41 years) who had mild COVID-19 a median of 82 days earlier found a severe pattern of changes in how the brain communicates as well as its structure, mainly in people with anxiety and depression with long COVID syndrome.
In this functional connectivity analysis, individuals with COVID-19 and anxiety and depression had widespread functional changes in each of the 12 networks assessed.
When asked for comment about the findings of this study, Dr Randy Beck, Executive Director of the Institute of Functional Neuroscience in Perth, Australia stated “Symptoms of anxiety and depression are frequently observed after COVID-19 and are part of long-COVID syndrome for some individuals. These symptoms require holistic treatment to improve the quality of life, cognition, and work capacity,” Dr Beck also agreed with the authors of this study in that treating these symptoms may induce “brain plasticity, which may result in some degree of grey matter increase and eventually prevent further structural and functional damage.
The Institute of Functional Neuroscience has developed a variety of non-invasive brain stimulation therapies to induce corrective brain plasticity. The Institute has helped thousands of people and may be able to help you too.
If you would like to learn more about how we may be able to help, please contact the Institute at [email protected].
Reference
American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2023 Annual Meeting: Abstract 1998. To be presented on April 24, 2023.
