Just how many people get COVID brain?

There are many questions still open about COVID and the brain. There is no doubt that long COVID exists, and this can have dramatic impacts on people’s lives. But just how much COVID impacts the brain is unclear – we know that many people suffer cognitive and neurological symptoms – commonly referred to as “brain fog”. But the precise mechanisms are unclear – it is likely a combination of factors that lead can lead to damage in the brain, though one major study was more optimistic noting that many of the conditions are treatable or that underlying previously unidentified conditions were coming to the surface.

In comes this recent study out of the Boston School of Medicine which has aimed to quantify this more precisely. They found that 13% of people who had been admitted to hospital for COVID developed serious neurological symptoms. Most commonly noted was encephalopathy which covers a broad range of symptoms or conditions that leads to impaired neurological functioning. Other conditions such as stroke were much rarer. Though we know that these symptoms can occur even if symptoms are mild, they are much more common with sever illness and worse health outcomes – this includes chances of being admitted to intensive care and being ventilated. There are also racial differences, but this is not clear why.

Of obvious concern is that with the numbers of severe infections being so high, particularly in the USA, this leaves an awfully large amount of people who have had, and still have long COVID and potential long-term cognitive impairment.