Memory Loss Can Persist Up To 7 Months After Recovering From COVID-19, Says Study

A new study has found that survivors of COVID-19 may experience memory loss and other cognitive problems for months after recovery.

Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine conducted the study by examining 740 patients at New York City's Mt. Sinai hospital who tested positive for COVID-19. They found that up to 24% of them experienced some form of cognitive difficulty following their recovery from the virus, including in mild cases among young patients.

For this younger cohort, the study determined that "a substantial proportion exhibited cognitive dysfunction several months after recovering from COVID-19." Perhaps most troubling is that memory loss and other cognitive problems were recorded in even mild cases of COVID-19 and up to seven months after diagnosis.

According to Harvard University, issues with focusing and memory can be the result of the damage COVID-19 can do to the brain by restricting oxygen or, in severe cases, causing direct damage. The damage the virus can do to other internal organs they say is also a contributing factor to memory loss.

Understanding the long-term effects of COVID-19 “long haulers,” or those suffering from damage after recovering, has received increased focus from researchers.

In September, the National Institutes of Health announced it would award $470 million in funding to researchers for the examination of long-term effects for those infected by COVID-19. The goal of the project is to expand the build a sweeping "meta-cohort" that includes thousands of COVID-19 survivors of various ages and backgrounds to better understand the effects.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that up to 65.9% of COVID-19 survivors are reporting symptoms for up to four weeks or longer after their recovery. The agency estimates that there are more than 45 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., underscoring the importance of studying the long-term effects of the virus.