Coronavirus Does a coronary infection really age the brain by ten years? – “Moderately insignificant,” the professor describes the changes observed in the study

According to a professor at the University of Turku, the brain changes observed after coronary heart disease have been “moderately insignificant”.

Coronary heart disease may cause changes in the human brain, but they are currently known to be quite mild, say experts interviewed by HS.

A debate on the subject sparked on Thursday when a cell biologist and neuroscientist Pirta Hotulainen watched in its opinion paper more effective prevention of coronary infections. He was referring to fresh Nature magazine researchwhich showed changes in the brains of those infected with the corona.

Read more: Every mildly symptomatic coronary infection ages the brain by an average of ten years

“The point is, the brain is an organ that responds to an awful lot of things,” says Professor of Integrative Neuroscience and Psychiatry. Hasse Karlsson From the University of Turku.

It is not known to what extent the changes differ from those caused by other viruses and how long they last.

Hasse Karlsson

In a British study the brains of nearly 800 people were imaged twice. About half of them got a corona infection between the two imaging.

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Changes in the brain, such as thinning of the gray matter in the brain, were seen in some patients with mild coronary heart disease. Small differences in cognitive speed tests were also observed compared to those who had not had the disease.

However, Karlsson says that in both cases the changes were “moderately insignificant”.

“Probably no one person notices it in any way in everyday life.”

According to Karlsson, the conclusion that even mild coronary heart disease would age everyone’s brains by ten years cannot be drawn from the study. In addition, the researchers themselves point out in the summary of the article that the permanence of the changes is not yet known.

What so you should now think about someone with mild coronary heart disease?

“Don’t be afraid,” says Karlsson.

He points out that stress, for example, causes similar changes in the brain. Getting the disease alone can create stress, and isolating yourself at home is not good for your brain.

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According to Karlsson, similar changes have also been shown in “almost any infection”. Only the olfactory brain changes he believes are specific to the coronavirus.

The subjects in the British study were over 51 years old and had a mean age of 59 years. Younger people might not even see the changes, Karlsson says.

Seppo Parkkila

Anatomy professor Seppo Parkkila The University of Tampere is on the same lines as Karlsson. He considers the changes found to be small and would like to know more about how they compare to the flu virus, for example.

“If someone starts claiming that when they get a coronavirus infection, it automatically results in a significant thinning of the gray matter in the brain, then that’s not the case.”

Internationally, scholars have also expressed reservations about the interpretation of British research.

“These brain changes were not seen in all patients and were mostly minor,” says the researcher Maxime Taquet From the University of Oxford to the British Science Media Center website.

Research data collected before vaccination. How vaccinations protect against changes in the brain is not yet known, says the chief physician To Hanna Nohy From the Department of Health and Welfare (THL).

“The effects of vaccinations are known to prevent serious illness and death in particular.”

Because the disease is milder in vaccinated people, the changes in the brain are also likely to be less, Nohynek and Karlsson say. Furthermore, it is not known how the coronavirus self-transformation differs from previous variants in terms of brain changes.

In his writing, Hotulainen called for more effective prevention of corona infections. Nohynek, for example, defends THL’s recommended five-day isolation period. According to him, after this, the additional benefit of insulation in reducing infection chains is small.

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