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New research shows that COVID-19 can cause "significant drops in IQ scores" [1]
['Jennifer Sandlin']
Date: 2024-03-02
Just as the CDC follows through with their idea to drop the 5-day isolation guidance for folks with active cases of COVID-19, scientists have published new research showing that COVID-19 can negatively affect the health of the brain and cause brain fog, headaches, seizures, strokes, sleep disorders, nerve paralysis, mental health issues, significant drops in IQ scores, and more.
Top COVID-19 and long COVID researcher Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, Chief of Research and Development, VA St. Louis Health Care System and Clinical Epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, recently published a terrific, accessible overview of some of the latest research, in The Conversation. He sums up some of the most important research findings thus far about COVID-19 and the brain. Here are some highlights:
Dr. Al-Aly also discusses two new studies that were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine that found significant deficits in memory and executive task performance in people who had had COVID-19–in people infected with earlier variants such as Delta, as well as those infected with more recent Omicron variants. The same study found drops in IQ points in patients with mild cases of COVID-19 who didn't have persistent symptoms, and in those who developed persistent symptoms. The former lost an equivalent of three IQ points and the latter six. It gets worse:
Those who had been admitted to the intensive care unit for COVID-19 had a nine-point loss in IQ. Reinfection with the virus contributed an additional two-point loss in IQ, as compared with no reinfection.
I don't know about you, but I can't really afford to lose IQ points—I need my brain for my work. With every new study that comes out about COVID-19, I learn more bad news about how COVID-19 negatively affects practically every system in the body. I'm going to keep masking, that's for sure. Stay safe out there, friends!
Previously: New study reveals that almost 1 in 4 adults in the United States who had COVID also developed long COVID symptoms
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