Major study warns that prolonged exposure to the new coronavirus could cause IQ to drop by up to 6 points

A patient's IQ could drop by six points over the long-term effects of coronavirus infection, a major study suggests.

British researchers found that patients who said they had been suffering from coronavirus symptoms for more than 12 weeks suffered greater losses than those who said they had never had the virus.

Additionally, those who said they had coronavirus symptoms for up to 12 weeks had a 3-point drop in IQ points, and those who were admitted to the ICU while infected had a 9-point drop in IQ points, compared to those who said they had not been infected. I calculated that I lost points.

Experts suggest that long-term virus symptoms may indicate someone has high levels of inflammation, which can stress brain cells and damage the brain. did.

The researchers said: “Our results confirmed the association between cognitive impairment and a range of other symptoms, as well as mood swings and fatigue.”

“Therefore, multiple underlying factors may contribute to cognitive impairment post-COVID-19.”

Long Covid is an ill-defined disease that is notoriously difficult to diagnose, with some doctors even saying it doesn't exist.

Patients with this syndrome complain of a variety of symptoms, including persistent fatigue, feeling lightheaded, and an inability to live a normal life.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, calculated participants' “global cognitive scores” and used them to generate IQ scores.

Estimates suggest that the average person in the United States has an IQ of about 98, with men having slightly higher scores than women.

This suggests that a person who claims to have been infected with Long Corona may have an IQ score of around 93 points, whereas someone who had previously had Corona may have an IQ score of around 95. That could be the point.

An IQ score is a numerical measure of a person's intelligence based on a series of reasoning, problem-solving, memory, and language tests.

However, the test has limitations, including the difficulty of capturing other areas of intelligence such as creativity and emotional intelligence, and the fact that people who take the test regularly tend to get used to it and score higher. You can

For the study, scientists sent a request to a random group of more than 800,000 people registered with the UK's National Health Service (NHS) to complete eight cognitive tests.

More than 110,000 people responded, including more than 3,000 who said they had been experiencing coronavirus symptoms for more than 12 weeks (researchers define this as “long-term coronavirus”). ).

The majority of participants were women from a white ethnic background in their 50s to 60s.

While Omicron is the predominant variant, most are infected and nearly 1,500 people are hospitalized with the virus. He said a total of 300 participants were admitted to the ICU.

They completed eight tests to measure mental abilities such as memory, spatial working memory, and verbal reasoning, among others.

Other findings included that participants who reported being infected with the coronavirus early on were more likely to have poorer cognitive function compared to other groups.

A limitation of the study was that it did not have data on people's cognitive abilities before they were infected with the coronavirus, making comparisons impossible.