Leaky blood vessels in the brain could be what cause the ‘brain fog’ often associated with long Covid, new research has suggested.
A study in the journal Nature Neuroscience has concluded that leaks in the barrier between our blood and brains could be the trigger for some of the cognitive issues seen with long Covid, including brain fog.
The researchers, from Trinity College Dublin and the FutureNeuro research centre, analysed serum and plasma samples from 76 patients who were hospitalised with Covid-19 right at the beginning of the pandemic, in March or April 2020, as well as from 25 people before the pandemic.
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Those with long Covid who had leaks in the blood-brain barrier had brain fog, while those without disruption did not, they concluded.
This blood vessel ‘leakiness’ was able objectively to distinguish those patients with brain fog and cognitive decline compared to patients suffering from long Covid yet not with brain fog.
While international incidence rates vary, long Covid is estimated to affect up to 10% of patients infected with the virus. As many as 1.9 million people in the UK, or some 2.9% of the population, are estimated to be experiencing self-reported long Covid.
Of patients suffering from long Covid, just under 50% report some form of lingering neurological effect, such as cognitive decline, fatigue and brain fog.
“For the first time, we have been able to show that leaky blood vessels in the human brain, in tandem with a hyperactive immune system may be the key drivers of brain fog associated with long Covid,” said Professor Matthew Campbell, professor in genetics and head of genetics at Trinity, and principal investigator at FutureNeuro.
“This is critically important, as understanding the underlying cause of these conditions will allow us to develop targeted therapies for patients in the future,” he added.
Dr Chris Greene, postdoctoral research fellow and first author of the study, added: “Our findings have now set the stage for further studies examining the molecular events that lead to post-viral fatigue and brain fog.
“Without doubt, similar mechanisms are at play across many disparate types of viral infection and we are now tantalisingly close to understanding how and why they cause neurological dysfunction in patients.”
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