Coronavirus can age the brain by 20 years.
COVID-19 can age the brain by 20 years
A new study has found that damage to grey cells caused by the disease can wipe ten points off IQ and swelling from the body's reaction can harm nerve cells in the brain.
Scientists said that the effects, such as a poor attention span and struggling to recall words, are worst in the sickest patients.
Experts at Cambridge University studied 46 people in Britain hospitalised with COVID-19 in 2020 and found that the group's scores in brain tests were lower than average.
The study's author Professor Adam Hampshire, from the Department of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London, warned that the problem could be widespread across the UK.
He said: "Around 40,000 people have been through intensive care with COVID-19 in England alone and many more will have been very sick, but not admitted to hospital.
"This means there is a larger number of people out there still experiencing problems with cognition many months later. We urgently need to look at what can be done to help these people."