Brain Ageing Accelerated in UK Adults After COVID Pandemic: Study

New Delhi: A new study published in Nature Communications suggests that living through the COVID-19 pandemic may have accelerated brain ageing in adults by an average of five and a half months, regardless of whether they were infected with the virus. The research, led by scientists from the University of Nottingham, analyzed brain scans of nearly 1,000 individuals in the UK taken before and after the pandemic.

The study found that the acceleration in brain ageing was more pronounced in older individuals, men, and those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds including people who were unemployed, had lower incomes, or limited access to education.

Researchers used AI-powered models trained on MRI brain scans of over 15,000 healthy individuals from the UK Biobank to determine participants' "brain age gap" the difference between a person's brain age and their actual chronological age. The models were then applied to analyze two sets of brain scans from 996 healthy participants. Among them, 564 individuals (the control group) had scans taken before the pandemic, while the remaining 432 (the “Pandemic” group) had one scan before and another after the onset of the pandemic.

“The ‘Pandemic’ group shows on average a 5.5-month higher deviation of brain age gap at the second time point, compared with controls,” the authors wrote.

Although accelerated brain ageing was detected in both COVID-infected and non-infected participants, cognitive impairments such as "brain fog" and difficulty focusing were observed only in those who had contracted the virus. “Accelerated brain ageing correlates with reduced cognitive performance only in COVID-infected participants,” the study said.

“What surprised me most was that even people who hadn't had COVID showed significant increases in brain ageing rates,” said lead researcher Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad, research fellow at the University of Nottingham’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. He added, “The experience of the pandemic itself everything from isolation to uncertaintymay have affected our brain health.”

According to the researchers, while the brain ageing observed may be at least partially reversible, it is closely tied to socioeconomic factors. The study underscores the need for public policies to address existing inequalities, which were worsened during the pandemic.

“This study reminds us that brain health is shaped not only by illness, but by our everyday environment,” said senior author Professor Dorothee Auer. “The pandemic put a strain on people's lives, especially those already facing disadvantage. We can't yet test whether the changes we saw will reverse, but it's certainly possible, and that's an encouraging thought,” she added.

(With inputs from PTI)