According to a study on the consequences of Covid-19who lost their sense of smell during the acute phase of the infection today suffer structural alterations in their brain.
This is a research published by the magazine Nature, Scientific ReportAccording to Clarín, the article announced that those affected in their olfactory capacity are nowadays more prone to impulses when making decisions.
“Despite a growing body of evidence, specific clinical factors associated with brain alterations remain elusive, presenting challenges in identifying populations at risk of developing long-term brain and cognitive impairment following SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the paper said.
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The study was carried out by the Center for Studies in Human Neuroscience and Neuropsychology at Diego Portales University and later published in the aforementioned journal.
“The severity of acute infection is the most studied clinical factor leading to brain and cognitive impairment. A longitudinal cohort study has revealed that the severity of the acute episode correlates with cognitive impairment in long-term follow-up,” the published text explains.
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A scientific article claimed that those who lost their sense of smell during Covid-19 may experience changes in their character
The work was based on a “laboratory game”. The participating volunteers had to make a series of decisions in response to questions and situations that were posed to them.
According to the study, patients who experienced a severe episode and exhibited neurological symptoms during the infection showed cognitive impairment and brain changes one year after infection. Even patients with mild Covid-19 also showed subtle brain changes.
Regarding the loss of smell, the researchers note that “anosmia is a commonly reported symptom in patients with Covid-19 that frequently occurs early in the course of the disease and may persist as a long-term symptom. It has been suggested that SARS-CoV-2 infection causes the death of supporting cells in the olfactory epithelium, with consequences for neuronal function. This mechanism aligns with the rapid onset of anosmia in Covid-19 and its rapid recovery after regeneration of supporting cells.”
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Michael Head*
“Our findings indicated that both hospitalization and anosmia had differential impacts on behavior in a cognitive flexibility task. However, only anosmia was consistently correlated with alterations in brain function across several parameters, including functional activity, cortical thickness, and white matter integrity (fibers of neurons that connect and transmit impulses to others), alterations associated with mood changes, more impulsive behaviors, and decision-making deficits.”
“While no differences were observed in our cognitive screening assessment, intriguing patterns emerged in performance on the behavioral task. All participants displayed adaptive behavior during the game. In particular, the distinctive decision-making strategy observed in patients with anosmia was characterized by more impulsive option switches,” the experts explained.
In the research they observed that patients who had loss of smell during Covid “They have altered responses and this is manifested by impulsiveness and difficulty in decision making.functions that belong to the frontal lobe in what is called executive function, which is what allows us to organize and carry out actions,” explained neurologist Conrado Estol.
“Patients, whether they had moderate or severe disease, when they presented loss of smell – confirming that the virus had entered the brain and affected this sense – evidently when conducting more sensitive cognitive studies, the researchers detected that they had not only lost their sense of smell, but that they had altered behaviors, which reflects that the brain damage had been more extensive,” Estol concluded.
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*Artículo de Kausel, L., Figueroa-Vargas, A., Zamorano, F. et al. Patients recovering from COVID-19 who presented with anosmia during their acute episode have behavioral, functional, and structural brain alterations. Sci Rep 1419049 (2024).
