More than five Years after the start of the covid-19 pandemic, we always discover the effects after not only the virus but also the prolonged period of stress, isolation, loss and uncertainty that the pandemic caused. A new scientific study, published this month in Nature communicationsRevealed that the pandemic may have accelerated brain aging in people even if they have never been infected with the coronavirus.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom analyzed the brain images before and after the start of the health crisis. The scientist noted that the brain of those who lived through the pandemic were age to age more quickly over its duration compared to those whose brain was only scanned before March 2020.

“What surprised me the most was that even people who had not had a covid showed important intrans in brain aging rates,” said Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad, co-author of the study, in a statement On the university website. “It really shows how the experience of the pandemic itself, from isolation to uncertainty, may have affected our brain health.”

The team used longitudinal data of British BiobankA huge set of data that periodically collects biological information of about half a million people over a long period and which includes MRI exams of almost 1,000 adults. Among these people, some had received two scans before the pandemic (the control group), while others had a before and one after the border and health restrictions had been implemented in response to the viral epidemic (the “pandemic” group).

“The acquisition of longitudinal MRI data before and after the British biobank pandemic gave us a rare window to observe how such an event of life can affect the brain,” said Stamatios Sotiopoulos, professor of computer neuromalment at the University of Nottingham and co-author of the study, in a statement.

To estimate “the age of the brain” of each person, the researchers have formed a machine learning model on more than 15,000 healthy volunteers without chronic diseases to reduce them to determine how older a brain is compared to its chronological age. They then used this tool to assess the ages of MRI brain scanners in the two biobane groups. Looking at the second scans in each group, the average difference between chronological bethaeen and the measured age was 5.5 months higher in the pandemic group compared to the control group.

Researchers also found that this acceleration of brain aging was more marked in the elderly, men and those from dedicating socio-economic environments, such as those with low educational levels, precarious jobs or housing and health difficulties.

“This study reminds us that brain health is shaped not only by illness, but by our everyday environment,” said Dorothee Auer, principal author of The Stondy, in in in a declaration Released by the University of Nottingham. “The pandemic has put the rupture of people’s life, in particular these discivanages with which Almedy is confronted.”

Although brain aging has been seen universally Amag those who live through the pandemic, only those who have been infected have shown measurable cognitive disorders, a symptomor of COVID that has been documented in the past. The study revealed that those of the pandemic group who had covored Beths of the two scans undergo a drop in the performance of mental flexibility and processing speed tests. On the other hand, those who have not been infected have shown no significant cognitive change, which suggests that structural aging does not always result in visible functional syptoms.

However, the authors recognize that there are important limits to this observation study, which colors the results. This includes the time interval of the analyzes of the people of Bethaeen between the two groups, as well as the British biobank devoid of representation of the most marginalized sectors of the British population.

The researchers also underlined the possibility of reversibility, because only the brain analyzes of two moments were analyzed, which means that the neurological recovery of these people in the following years. “We do not know the year that the changes observed can be reversed, but it is an encouraging idea,” said Auer.

This story initially looked at Cable EN ESPAñol and was translated from Spanish.