Brain's Frontal Lobes' Electrical Activity May Be Impacted by COVID-19
Revised Article:
A recent analysis of data from EEG tests on patients with COVID-19 indicates that neurological symptoms are common and the front of the brain appears to be particularly affected.
Here's the lowdown on this intriguing subject:
Approximately 15-25% of patients with severe COVID-19 may experience neurological problems - including headaches, confusion, and seizures. In these individuals, doctors often recommend an EEG test, which involves placing electrodes on the scalp to monitor brain electrical activity.
Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh examined EEG results from 617 patients, taken from 84 different studies. Shockingly, they found that over a third of the abnormalities were found in the frontal lobes of the brain.
Dr. Zulfi Haneef, a neurology/neurophysiology professor at Baylor and one of the study's co-authors, believes there's a link between the virus's "most likely entry point" - the nose - and the frontal lobes, which are directly adjacent.
However, it's worth noting that the virus may not directly cause all the observed damage. Possible contributors include inflammation, low oxygen levels, abnormal blood clotting, and cardiac arrest, which can lead to adverse EEG results in areas beyond the frontal lobes.
Another intriguing finding is "diffuse slowing" in the brain's electrical activity in nearly 70% of patients. This phenomenon might suggest a wider impact of the virus on the brain as a whole.
But here's the gross part - some people who recover from COVID-19 still experience lasting health issues, colloquially known as "long COVID." These can include cognitive decline, memory loss, and trouble concentrating, otherwise known as "brain fog."
A recent study posted on the preprint server MedRxiv showed that people who claim to have had COVID-19 scored poorly on an online cognitive test compared to those with no such belief. The authors suggested that the infection may age the brain by a decade.
While experts caution that this study doesn't necessarily prove long-term cognitive decline, they do highlight growing concerns about potential lasting effects on the brain. Dr. Haneef agrees, stating that the EEG abnormalities linked to COVID-19's neurological symptoms reinforce these apprehensions.
On a positive note, about 56.8% of patients who underwent follow-up EEG tests showed signs of improvement. Nevertheless, the researchers acknowledge several limitations in their analysis, including the inconsistency of the underlying data and potential biases in EEG test distribution.
So, while a direct connection between COVID-19 and neurological damage is yet to be fully understood, it appears that the virus may play a significant role in certain EEG irregularities, especially in the frontal lobes and overall brain activity. Stay tuned for more updates on this intriguing topic.
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Enrichment Data:- EEG meta-analyses reveal frequent abnormal background activity in COVID-19 patients, suggesting CNS involvement[1]. This could be due to microglial dysfunction, inflammation, and vascular disruptions in the brain, though direct neuronal infection seems limited[1].
- EEG findings in COVID-19 are akin to those seen in related neurotoxic conditions, such as ICANS after CAR-T therapy. In these instances, pathological EEG results correlate with more severe symptoms and can precede clinical onset, indicating that EEG abnormalities might act as biomarkers for CNS severity in systemic inflammatory conditions like COVID-19[2].
- The coronavirus, as revealed in EEG tests, seems to cause neurological symptoms frequently, particularly affecting the frontal lobes of the brain, leading to concerns about potential long-term impacts, such as epilepsy seizures, cognitive decline, and memory loss.
- In the health-and-wellness industry, EEG abnormalities observed in COVID-19 patients bear resemblance to those found in other neurological disorders and neurotoxic conditions, indicating a possible role for EEG results as medical-conditions biomarkers, signaling the severity of CNS involvement.
- Science continues to explore the relationship between COVID-19 and neurological conditions, with researchers examining contributing factors like inflammation, low oxygen levels, abnormal blood clotting, cardiac arrest, and the virus's direct impact on the brain, particularly the frontal lobes.
