Do you become dumber due to corona infection? Completely cured patients also score worse on cognitive tests

Research into the intelligence of the British shows that people who had experienced a corona infection scored significantly worse on cognitive tests. People who indicated that they no longer had any permanent symptoms (‘long covid’) also performed worse.

–

–

Door Redactie Online

&nbsp- 26/07/2021 om 12:39

–

The study by the British BBC, the ‘Great British Intelligence Test’, actually only had the aim of mapping the individual cognitive strengths of the British – a connection with corona was therefore not explicitly sought. But the question of whether someone had already experienced a confirmed corona infection was included in the package of background questions that were filled in afterwards. Of the more than 81,300 people who took the cognitive tests on reasoning and problem-solving skills, among other things, 500 indicated they had been infected with corona. And from a separate analysis The study, published in the renowned medical journal The Lancet, found that people who had had corona scored significantly worse than other participants of the same age and socioeconomic profile. According to the researchers, the differences in score were not present for the participants whether or not they had had corona. Factors such as fatigue, depression or anxiety in the participants had no impact on the results.

Long covid

There was also a difference within the group of poorly scoring corona patients. Those who had been hospitalized and had to receive a ventilator performed the worst. In fact, they scored even worse than participants who had ever had a stroke or participants with learning disabilities. Translated into a classic IQ test, the latter is a difference of no less than 7 IQ points.

But the people with a confirmed corona infection who could have simply recovered from the disease at home also scored worse than the participants who had not had the corona – albeit less badly than the corona patients who had been in hospital.

It has been known for some time that some corona patients who suffer from ‘long covid’, i.e. corona symptoms that persist long after the infection, also experience memory problems, concentration problems and a so-called brain fog. However, not all poorly scoring corona patients in the study suffered from lung covid: even those who reported being completely cured of all symptoms performed worse. It also made no difference in that group how long the infection had been.

– .