Brain's Frontal Lobes Electrical Activity Affected by COVID-19
If you're one of the unlucky folks experiencing neurological symptoms with COVID-19, there might be some explanations behind it. Researchers have discovered that brain abnormalities, detected using electroencephalography (EEG) tests, are fairly common in these patients.
Here's a rough rundown of what we currently know:
Neurological Symptoms
Approximately 15-25% of patients with severe COVID-19 may experience various neurological symptoms, such as headaches, confusion, delirium, seizures, strokes, and more.
When these symptoms arise, doctors might refer you for an EEG test. This test involves placing electrodes on your scalp to observe the electrical activity of your brain.
The Link Between COVID-19 and Brain Abnormalities
Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh analyzed EEG results from 617 patients across 84 studies to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the brain. One striking finding was the frequency of abnormalities in the frontal lobes of the brain.
"There seems to be a connection between the part of the brain that is located directly next to the entry point of the virus," explained Dr. Zulfi Haneef, a co-author of the study.
In fact, over a third of the abnormal findings were in the frontal lobes. These abnormalities were more severe in patients with preexisting neurological conditions, such as epilepsy. The researchers also found "diffuse slowing" in the background electrical activity of the whole brain in almost 70% of patients.
Long COVID and Brain Fog
For some, the effects of COVID-19 don't end when they recover. Known as 'long COVID,' these survivors report ongoing health problems, including brain fog.
A recent study found that individuals who claim to have had COVID perform less well on an online cognitive test compared to those who didn't believe they contracted the virus. While this study hasn't been fully peer-reviewed, it does raise concerns about lasting effects on the brain.
"There might be long-term issues with COVID-19," warns Dr. Haneef. "A lot of people think they will get the illness, get well, and everything will go back to normal, but these findings tell us that there might be long-term issues."
On a brighter note, 56.8% of those who had follow-up EEG tests showed improvements.
Limitations and Considerations
The study had some limitations, such as a lack of access to raw data from individual studies, potential omissions of normal EEGs, and the use of anti-seizure medications that might have obscured signs of seizures in EEG traces.
Still, the correlation between abnormal EEG results and the severity of COVID-19, particularly in relation to neurological symptoms and preexisting neurological conditions, is an area of ongoing research.
- Neurological symptoms such as seizures, strokes, and confusion are common in 15-25% of patients with severe COVID-19, with the frontal lobes of the brain being particularly affected, according to research.
- Researchers have found that over a third of abnormalities in EEG tests for COVID-19 patients occurred in the frontal lobes, with these abnormalities being more severe in patients with pre-existing neurological conditions like epilepsy.
- Long COVID, which involves ongoing health problems like brain fog, has been linked to worse performance on cognitive tests for individuals who claim to have had COVID-19, although this relationship requires further investigation.
- Despite some limitations in the study, the correlation between abnormal EEG results, the severity of COVID-19, neurological symptoms, and pre-existing neurological conditions is an ongoing area of research in health-and-wellness, mental-health, and neurological-disorders.
