People who had severe covid-19 show cognitive decline years later

www.newscientist.com

An analysis of people who were hospitalised with covid-19 in the first wave of the pandemic has revealed that the ongoing decline in their cognitive abilities is the equivalent to losing 10 IQ points

The cognitive abilities of people who were hospitalised with covid-19 during the first wave of the pandemic remain lower than expected, even years later, and there is some evidence that this is forcing them to change jobs.

“What we found is that the average cognitive deficit was equivalent to 10 IQ points, based on what would be expected for their age, et cetera,” says Maxime Taquet at the University of Oxford.

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11mo ago

People who had severe covid-19 show cognitive decline years later

www.newscientist.com /article/2442153-people-who-had-severe-covid-19-show-cognitive-decline-years-later/

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11mo ago

People who had severe covid-19 in the first wave of the pandemic show cognitive decline years later, the equivalent to losing 10 IQ points

www.newscientist.com /article/2442153-people-who-had-severe-covid-19-show-cognitive-decline-years-later/

55 comments

Long covid sufferer here, my video game skills have taken a hard drop in the last year, and I'm fucking terrified honestly.
Not just action, but cognitive games as well.
FUCK
this is actually handy; i can blame long covid for all my fuckups from now on
- TADA! I think I read somewhere that Covid affects the brain akin to dimentia or something like that. I don't remember the science behind it, and it was just the beginnings of the findings and I am sure that things are clearer now (a couple of years after I had read that). But I have had Covid an uncomfortable amount of times. My gal was one of the first to bring it home in the US as far as I heard it. Everyone where she was working just kept coming down with this "nasty cold" or somethingerother. They literally threw us into isolation shortly after. But I remember moments when we were just laying together in bed, sleeping our asses off and I would think "are we breathing? Am I breathing?" But I think it scrambled our brains like eggs. And we got through it. I think we came back pretty well the first time. The second time, we did alright. Still nothing long-term that seemed to be terribly messed up. By the third, I think my thoughts just decided to leave the building. I still forget whole words. They just vanish. And I get to play the world's worst guessing game. And it never got better, and at first it really upset me but now I have a real "It is what it is" kinda vibe to it, because I can't seemingly change it soooooo...
  
  The forgetting words thing is awful. Thank god for ChatGPT or else I would never be able to remember them.
- Not me! I'm somehow the best Project Muse player in the world now.
The tag line on this with regards to IQ is very misleading. Setting aside that IQ is a terrible form of measurement and no weight should be given to it, the study actually reveals that measured IQ is unchanged. They measured after discharge, and then several years later with no change. With no pre-covid measurement, this is a more than useless bit of data.
Depression and anxiety are increased, but so did that of the general population. So hard to tie any of that to COVID or long COVID.
- IQ tests seem like they would actually be useful here though had they done pre-Covid tests and at least a couple of them. I’m not an expert but it seems like the thing they’re bad at is quantifying in specific amounts the intelligence of a person.
  For instance, we can’t say that if someone’s IQ went from 100 down to 80 that they became 20% less intelligent. But we can maybe say that this suggests that they lost some cognitive ability and then we can characterize that against a population without long Covid. And again we couldn’t say they’re 20% worse than someone without long Covid, but we certainly know that losing 20 points on an IQ test isn’t normal.
  
  Losing 20 points of IQ is massive. That's two standard deviations worth. It's going from average to bottom of the barrel.
Don't know what's doing it, the COVID or chain smoking thc from 5-11 every evening
Honestly, I feel like it has affected me cognitively and I was 3 vaccines in when I got it.
- Same, but I think it is more the stress of finding out just how many people are absolutely trash over the last decade with antivaxxers crushing my last respect for humanity.
  
  I thought I had a pretty low opinion of humanity before the pandemic hit. Oh boy, was I wrong.
I've been fucked up since late 2020, early 2021. I start to feel better again, and then bam, covid again and cycle restarts and gets worse. I have a weak immune system and pretty much get it whenever I have any sort of contact.
- That fucking sucks! You shouldn’t have to get rolled by germs over and over. If you’re down for some up to date info on what you could do instead, the best short roundup I’ve encountered is here.
  Archive link with sources
  Tumblr backup
  The creator’s site is currently hugged to death, which speaks to the quality of this resource and the magnitude of the viral surge.
  
  Speak of the devil, just tested positive lol
  
  Really great info thanks
Man... Some of those people where just 7 puts above "trump voter" on the IQ scale prior to COVID too...
I always tested negative for COVID in antigen test. But more than likely I have had it and man, I have gotten brain fog at the tail end of my illness this one time. I still went to work and have forgotten a couple of things-- which just so happens that there is an audit the following day. Thankfully, it was sorted just before the audit. But with covid now out of the bag, I will let any flu-like illness run its course fully before I return to work. COVID is totally different from your seasonal flu and don't underestimate what it could do to you cognitively.
I'm still living with an anti-vaccine family, and my parents would not allow me to get vaccinated against COVID.
I got COVID thrice.
Damn it.
This explains Trump and Biden?
- Given their age it's more likely lead poisoning
  
  or both
  
  They’re old enough that my bet is atomic testing.
  
  Haha, rich people houses didn't use lead paint. That was for the poors. Rich people have paneling and frescoes.
- Christ, can not every thread be about them?
Oh yeah, that reminds me. I've been forgetting my lions mane cocoa. Huh 🤔
Ah, yes the concept of "ageing" put into more dramatic words serving nobody but the fascists.
- Did you reply before even reading the summary:
  “What we found is that the average cognitive deficit was equivalent to 10 IQ points, based on what would be expected for their age, et cetera,” says Maxime Taquet at the University of Oxford.
  We are discussing progress over just 4 years and adjusting for age.

55 comments