Pandemic affected long-term brain health

Coping with the fear and stress of living through the Covid-19 pandemic potentially had a lasting impact on people’s brain health, especially that of the over-50s, research has suggested.

The ‘PROTECT’ study of 3,100 people, published in the journal The Lancet Healthy Longevity, found executive function and working memory both worsened during the first and second years of the pandemic.

As well as the heightened stress of the period, other likely contributory factors were loneliness, increased alcohol consumption and lower exercise levels.

The rate of the drop in cognitive function accelerated during the first year of the pandemic, when lockdowns occurred, while, for memory issues, this decline continued into the second year.

People who already had some mild memory problems before the pandemic began had the worst overall decline, the study argued.

Data was collected from the same people at three time points: before the pandemic (March 2019 through February 2020), during its first year (March 2020 through February 2021), and then during the second year (March 2021 through February 2022).

Evaluations included logical reasoning and problem-solving tests to assess executive function and three working memory tests. Participants also reported lifestyle factors and underwent annual depression assessments.

Cognitive decline was significantly associated with reduced exercise and increased alcohol use across the whole cohort, the researchers concluded. Declines in working memory were linked with depression in those who had caught Covid-19, and with loneliness in those with mild cognitive impairment.

In the second year of the pandemic, reduced exercise continued to be linked with lower executive function across the whole cohort. There were relationships between worsening working memory and reduced exercise, loneliness, and depression in those who had Covid, and increased alcohol use, loneliness, and depression in those with mild cognitive impairment, the research team found.

“Our findings suggest that lockdowns and other restrictions we experienced during the pandemic have had a real, lasting impact on brain health in people aged 50 or over, even after the lockdowns ended,” said lead investigator Professor Anne Corbett, professor in dementia research at Exeter University.

“Our findings also highlight the need for policymakers to consider the wider health impacts of restrictions like lockdowns when planning for a future pandemic response.”

Given the evidence of the chaotic government response to the pandemic that emerged this week in the Covid-19 inquiry, an accompanying editorial by PhD student Dorina Cadar was perhaps especially pertinent.

She said: “Looking back, Covid-19 has revealed the astonishing vulnerability of our societies, but also the lack of strategy and organisation from so many governments worldwide, and our shared fragility when confronted with infections.

“Older people (aged ≥50 years) with cardiovascular disease and complex comorbidities have almost double the risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 compared with those without chronic conditions.

“Let us remind ourselves that Covid-19 is not a thing of the past, but a reality for which we must continue to adapt and prepare,” Cadar added.