COVID-19 can cause the brain to shrink, reduce grey matter in the regions that control emotion and memory, and damage areas that control the sense of smell, an Oxford University study has found.
The scientists said that the effects were even seen in people who had not been hospitalised with COVID, and whether the impact could be partially reversed or if they would persist in the long term needed further investigation.
"There is strong evidence for brain-related abnormalities in COVID-19," the researchers said in their study, which was released on Monday.
Even in mild cases, participants in the research showed "a worsening of executive function" responsible for focus and organising, and on an average brain sizes shrank between 0.2% and 2%.
The peer-reviewed study, published in the Nature journal, investigated brain changes in 785 participants aged 51-81 whose brains were scanned twice, including 401 people who caught COVID between their two scans. The second scan was done on average 141 days after the first scan.
The study was conducted when the Alpha variant was dominant in Britain and is unlikely to include anyone infected with the Delta variant.
Studies have found some people who had COVID suffered from "brain fog" or mental cloudiness that included impairment to attention, concentration, speed of information processing and memory.
The researchers did not say if vaccination against COVID had any impact on the condition but the UK Health Security Agency said last month that a review of 15 studies found that vaccinated people were about half as likely to develop symptoms of long COVID compared with the unvaccinated.
(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Singapore; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Biden heads to Texas to highlight toxic health risks for veterans
President Joe Biden travels to Texas on Tuesday to highlight the exposure of U.S. service members to toxins in war zones that can later result in serious health problems, like the cancer that killed his son and for which he blames Iraqi burn pits.
Accompanied by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, Biden will visit a clinic for veterans in Fort Worth and receive a briefing from staff on services for veterans and challenges they face, the White House said.
He will deliver remarks on the administration's efforts to address the problem, including a proposed rule to consider adding certain rare cancers to the list of those presumed to be connected to military service. He also will urge Congress to help veterans facing those difficulties.
One such veteran "was stationed at bases and breathing in toxic smoke from 'burn pits' that incinerated wastes of war --medical and hazard material, jet fuel, and more," Biden said in his State of the Union address earlier this month, referencing his late son Major Beau Biden.
Beau Biden, a former Delaware attorney general, died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46.
"We don't know for sure if a burn pit was the cause of his brain cancer, or the diseases of so many of our troops. But I'm committed to finding out everything we can," the president said.
It is not the only effort inspired by Beau's illness. In February, Biden announced plans to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years, part of an effort to revive the "Cancer Moonshot" initiative to speed research and make more treatments available.
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
COVID-19 can cause the brain to shrink, reduce grey matter in the regions that control emotion and memory, and damage areas that control the sense of smell, an Oxford University study has found.
The scientists said that the effects were even seen in people who had not been hospitalised with COVID, and whether the impact could be partially reversed or if they would persist in the long term needed further investigation.
"There is strong evidence for brain-related abnormalities in COVID-19," the researchers said in their study, which was released on Monday.
Even in mild cases, participants in the research showed "a worsening of executive function" responsible for focus and organising, and on an average brain sizes shrank between 0.2% and 2%.
The peer-reviewed study, published in the Nature journal, investigated brain changes in 785 participants aged 51-81 whose brains were scanned twice, including 401 people who caught COVID between their two scans.
The second scan was done on average 141 days after the first scan.
The study was conducted when the Alpha variant was dominant in Britain and is unlikely to include anyone infected with the Delta variant.
Studies have found some people who had COVID suffered from "brain fog" or mental cloudiness that included impairment to attention, concentration, speed of information processing and memory.
The researchers did not say if vaccination against COVID had any impact on the condition but the UK Health Security Agency said last month that a review of 15 studies found that vaccinated people were about half as likely to develop symptoms of long COVID compared with the unvaccinated.
(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Singapore; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Biden heads to Texas to highlight toxic health risks for veterans
President Joe Biden travels to Texas on Tuesday to highlight the exposure of U.S. service members to toxins in war zones that can later result in serious health problems, like the cancer that killed his son and for which he blames Iraqi burn pits.
Accompanied by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, Biden will visit a clinic for veterans in Fort Worth and receive a briefing from staff on services for veterans and challenges they face, the White House said.
He will deliver remarks on the administration's efforts to address the problem, including a proposed rule to consider adding certain rare cancers to the list of those presumed to be connected to military service. He also will urge Congress to help veterans facing those difficulties.
One such veteran "was stationed at bases and breathing in toxic smoke from 'burn pits' that incinerated wastes of war --medical and hazard material, jet fuel, and more," Biden said in his State of the Union address earlier this month, referencing his late son Major Beau Biden.
Beau Biden, a former Delaware attorney general, died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46.
"We don't know for sure if a burn pit was the cause of his brain cancer, or the diseases of so many of our troops. But I'm committed to finding out everything we can," the president said.
It is not the only effort inspired by Beau's illness. In February, Biden announced plans to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years, part of an effort to revive the "Cancer Moonshot" initiative to speed research and make more treatments available.
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)