COVID-19 accelerates brain aging especially in males, deprived groups

In a study posted to the medRxiv preprint* server, researchers in the United Kingdom (UK) investigated the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on brain aging using longitudinal neuroimaging data, comparing brain age predictions of participants before and after the pandemic onset, reports News Medical.

They found that the pandemic significantly accelerated brain aging, especially in males and individuals from deprived backgrounds, and correlated with reduced cognitive performance in COVID-19-infected participants.

The study collected High-quality multimodal brain imaging data of 42,677 individuals aged at least 45 years.

Participants positive for SARS-CoV-2 were identified using diagnostic tests, hospital data, healthcare records, or antibody tests.

Further, the study assessed cognitive scores, calculating the percentage change between two scans for the top 10 cognitive tests linked to dementia risk to compare cognitive abilities across different groups.

In summary, the study explored the broader health consequences of the pandemic and suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly accelerated brain aging, influenced by psychosocial factors, particularly social and health deprivation.

The effects were found to be independent of infection status, with the exception of interactions between SARS-CoV-2 infection, brain aging, old age, and cognitive decline.

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