Tag: dementia

bookmark_borderCOVID-19 Significantly Higher Risk of Alzheimer’s

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The risk of older people (over 65) developing Alzheimer’s disease over a one-year period nearly doubled following a COVID-19 diagnosis. The same researchers had previously found that individuals with dementia had a greater risk of contracting COVID-19 and being hospitalized and dying from the disease than those without dementia.

“Many people believe that for Alzheimer’s disease there is a combination of factors that work together to give you the cognitive impairment, and we were concerned that the kinds of things that happened during COVID-19 — the intense inflammation, and perhaps the kinds of direct action on the brain of the of the virus — might be a risk factor,” Dr. Davis, the study’s co-author, said. “So we went looking for that in our study.”

“We can say that they are associated, but we cannot infer causality,” she stressed.

“First, the pandemic presented serious delays for individuals seeking out medical diagnoses like Alzheimer’s disease, meaning these results could be driven by those who already had Alzheimer’s disease when they were infected but had not yet sought out a formal diagnosis,” Dr. Snyder, vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association, explained.

“Alternatively, COVID-19 infection — which is linked to immune changes, including inflammation — may impact the onset of brain changes that are linked to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia,” said Dr. Snyder. “However, because this study only showed an association through medical records, we cannot know what the underlying mechanisms driving this association are without more research.”

Association of COVID-19 with New-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease

COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 / Novel Coronavirus

bookmark_borderAir Pollution and Cognitive Decline, Dementia

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In a UK study, a causal relationship has been established between air pollution and cognitive decline / dementia. The primary cause is a decline in blood flow to the brain.

Cognitive decline, dementia and air pollution

COMEAP reviewed nearly 70 studies in human populations (epidemiological studies) which looked at possible links between air pollution and a decline in mental ability and dementia in older people. They also considered studies which investigated how air pollution might affect the brain.

From this review, it can be concluded that it is likely that air pollution does contribute to these effects. The most likely way this occurs is through effects on the circulation. It is known that air pollutants, particularly small particles, can affect the heart and blood vessels, including to the brain.

POLLUTION OVERVIEW
Morgantown, Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA, New York/Newark, Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA rank in the worst pollution for the Northeastern USA.

The worst in Pennsylvania include Emsworth, Forest Hills, Freedom, Ben Avon, Edgewood, Braddock, Millvale, Carnegie, North Braddock, Sewickley, McKeesport, Bristol, Chester, Norristown, Harrisburg, Hershey, Lancaster, Kutztown, York, Allentown, Freemansburg, Swiftwater, Wilkes-Barre, Altoona, Montoursville, State College, Tioga, Kittanning, Farrel, and Erie.

WORST CITIES FOR OZONE POLLUTION
#1: Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
#2: Bakersfield, CA
#3: Visalia, CA
#4: Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA
#5: Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
#6: San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
#7: Denver-Aurora, CO
#8: Houston-The Woodlands, TX
#9: Sacramento-Roseville, CA
#10: Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem, UT
#11: Las Vegas-Henderson, NV
#12: El Paso-Las Cruces, TX-NM
#13: San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
#14: New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA
#15: El Centro, CA
#16: Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI
#16: Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK
#18: Fort Collins, CO
#19: San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA
#20: Chico, CA
#21: Reno-Carson City-Fernley, NV
#22: Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas, NM
#23: Redding-Red Bluff, CA
#24: Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI
#25: San Antonio-New Braunfels-Pearsall, TX

WORST CITIES FOR PARTICLE POLLUTION
#1: Bakersfield, CA
#2: Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA
#2: Visalia, CA
#4: San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
#5: Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
#6: Medford-Grants Pass, OR
#7: Fairbanks, AK
#8: Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
#9: Chico, CA
#10: El Centro, CA
#11: Sacramento-Roseville, CA
#12: Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN
#13: Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN
#14: Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV
#15: Bend-Prineville, OR
#16: Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI
#16: Redding-Red Bluff, CA
#18: McAllen-Edinburg, TX
#18: Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD
#18: Eugene-Springfield, OR
#21: Yakima, WA
#22: Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI
#22: Houston-The Woodlands, TX
#24: St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL
#25: Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC
#25: Shreveport-Bossier City-Minden, LA

bookmark_borderCOVID-19: Neurologic Complications

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Most COVID cases develop chronic neurological symptoms including confusion, brain fog, headaches, encephalitis, stroke, dementia, neuropathy, muscle and nerve damage.

Eight of 10 hospitalized COVID-19 patients developed neurologic complications and were six times more likely than their peers to die, according to early results from a global the study Global Incidence of Neurological Manifestations Among Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19 published in JAMA.

The most common symptoms were loss of smell (43%), weakness (40%), fatigue (38%), loss of taste (37%), muscle pain (25%), depression (23%), headache (21%), and anxiety (16%). The researchers also identified major but less common neurologic disorders such as ischemic stroke (1.9%), hemorrhagic stroke (0.4%), and seizures (0.06%).

Among the few nonhospitalized COVID-19 patients with mild illness in the dataset, neurologic and psychiatric symptoms were still common, with 55% reporting fatigue, 52% loss of smell, 47% muscle pain, 45% loss of taste, and 44% headache.

In a University College London news release, lead study author Jonathan Rogers, BChir, said his team had expected neurologic and psychiatric symptoms to be more common in severe COVID-19. “But instead we found that some symptoms appeared to be more common in mild cases,” he said. “It appears that COVID-19 affecting mental health and the brain is the norm, rather than the exception.”

“Months after a bout with COVID-19, many people are still struggling with memory problems, mental fog and mood changes. One reason is that the disease can cause long-term harm to the brain. The current catalog of COVID-related threats to the brain includes bleeding, blood clots, inflammation, oxygen deprivation and disruption of the protective blood-brain barrier. And there’s new evidence in monkeys that the virus may also directly infect and kill certain brain cells,” From blood clots to infected neurons, how COVID threatens the brain

“It’s very clear in our monkey model that neurons are infected,” says Morrison, who presented some of the research at the Society for Neuroscience meeting.

In a 2022 study, the University of Oxford found “Increased risk of some neurological and psychiatric disorders remains two years after COVID-19 infection” even if you have been vaccinated. (Neurological and psychiatric risk trajectories after SARS-CoV-2 infection: an analysis of 2-year retrospective cohort studies including 1,284,437 patients) “New diagnoses of disorders including psychosis, dementia, seizures and ‘brain fog’ remain commoner two years after COVID-19.”

“Some of the theories for what may be causing long-COVID symptoms include the persistence of the virus. So, instead of the virus coming and going, it sticks around causing inflammation, auto-immune problems and changes in the microbiome,” Dr. Michael Peluso, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco said.

“You can start thinking about getting COVID as almost an accelerant to aging. The viral infection accelerates the aging process in people,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center at Washington University in St. Louis and the chief of research and education service at Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System.

Dr. Al-Aly researched data from millions of people across the country. The studies on kidney outcomes in long COVID, long COVID in the brain and long COVID in the heart had similar patterns.

Other Chronic Conditions of the Brain
In 2023 the Journal Cortex published the study, Persistent Prosopagnosia Following COVID-19

COVID-19 can cause psychological problems including loss of smell and taste, long-lasting memory, speech, and language impairments, and psychosis. Here, we provide the first report of prosopagnosia following symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Annie is a 28-year-old woman who had normal face recognition prior to contracting COVID-19 in March 2020. Two months later, she noticed face recognition difficulties while experiencing symptom relapses and her deficits with faces have persisted.

 

Long-term neurologic outcomes of COVID-19

COVID-19 Chronic Conditions

MORE ON COVID: COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 / Novel Coronavirus

bookmark_borderCOVID-19: Chronic Conditions

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COVID=19

By Daniel Brouse
help@membrane.com

“I describe it as a bit like somebody throwing a hand grenade into our immune system, that all the populations [of immune cells] are completely topsy turvy and unsettled for years. And, that’s a guess, but we’ve got the technology to look at that in quite a lot of detail,” said Professor Danny Altmann, from the Department of Immunology and Inflammation at Imperial.

In September of 2023, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine reported, “Long-standing multiorgan impairment following SARS-CoV-2 infection has been a major concern for individuals recovering from severe disease and is thought to be caused by a multitude of factors, including direct viral cytotoxicity, chronic inflammation, ischaemic injury, acute reactivation of other viruses, metabolic derangements, and acute treatment effects (especially invasive ventilation). Numerous reports of delayed organ complications such as myocarditis, stroke, and pulmonary emboli have led to speculations that the multiorgan dysfunction caused by COVID-19 might be responsible for impaired recovery and ongoing symptoms in individuals, a condition referred to as long COVID.”

We know COVID causes long term health and wellness impacts, such as:
* Permanent Organ Damage
* Persistent SARS-CoV-2 RNA in multiple organs and throughout the brain
* Destruction of Good Gut Bacteria Resulting in a Compromised Immune System
* Epigenetic Modifications (Changes to DNA)
* Change in Cell Fate
* Tryptophan Deficiency
* Dysfunctional Kynurenine Pathway
* Neurological Damage
* New-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
* Exertional Intolerance, Oxygen Extraction, Reduced Exercise Capacity
* Down Regulating NAD+
* Up Regulating IDO
* Rogue Antibodies
* Insulin Reduction, Diabetes, High Cholesterol, Heart Disease and Stroke
* Increased Risk of Cancer
* Blood Clots
* Hypertension, Vascular Disorders, Myocarditis and Heart Disease
* Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)
* Dysregulation of the innate immune system, i.e. “cytokine storm”

It is important to note that the severity of disease in humans is not determined only by virus replication but also by the host immune response to the infection, which may lead to dysregulation of the innate immune system, i.e. “cytokine storm” (Omicron SARS-CoV-2 can infect faster and better)

These are some of the causes of long-COVID symptoms that have been identified. There are likely many more.

Everybody’s response to COVID is unique; however, most people are likely to develop several of these disorders. For instance, the genetic abnormalities were found in 1-3% of the prepandemic population. In the population of COVID survivors, 50-75% of individuals exhibit these genetic abnormalities. Currently, there is no cure for any of these ailments. Another example is the loss of taste and/or smell. In the study UGT2A1/UGT2A2 locus is associated with COVID-19-related loss of smell or taste people that are genetically predisposed to have problems with taste and smell genes are more likely to lose their senses to COVID. Of those people that lose their sense of taste or smell, 20% will not recover their senses.

COVID causes negative feedback loops. COVID appears to cause the most damage to the weakest or most vulnerable parts of the body. If you were predisposed to a condition prior to COVID, you will likely develop the condition after COVID. An example would be people with type II diabetes. If you have diabetes prior to COVID, then you are at high risk of dying from COVID. If you are prediabetic, COVID will likely make you diabetic. If you are not inclined to develop diabetes, COVID will likely increase the probability of developing diabetes. The same holds true with NAD+, IDO, P53 tumor suppression genes, and all the other conditions listed above.

Vaccination is the best method for preventing all of these conditions. Unvaccinated people are 8x’s more likely to contract COVID. Vaccinated people that contract COVID are 50% less likely to develop long-COVID. Get vaccinated; however, vaccination alone is not enough. One should also wear an N95 mask and socially distance.