Brain, nerve damage fears rise after study of millions of COVID patients

Brain and nerve conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and stroke are significantly more common among COVID-19 survivors than those who've never had the disease, according to a study of millions of patient records that raises alarms about the pandemic's devastating aftereffects.

Former COVID patients had a 42% increased risk of neurologic problems a year after testing positive, the study published Thursday in the journal Nature Medicine showed. That translates to an extra seven cases of impaired cognition, memory disorders, Parkinson's-like disease and dozens of other brain-related conditions for every 100 people who caught the coronavirus, according to scientists led by Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System.

"We're seeing the early warning signals of the toll the pandemic will leave in its wake - waves of disease and disability that clinicians and governments need to pay attention to," said Al-Aly, who's also a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University. "Some of the effects are life-threatening and have the potential to literally change people's lives forever."

https://www.startribune.com/brain-nerve-damage-fears-rise-after-study-of-millions-of-covid-patients/600209344/