🧠 Your brain may have aged faster during the pandemic, even without COVID-19 infection. A UK Biobank study shows pandemic-era stressors accelerated brain aging by ~5.5 months, especially in older men and those from deprived backgrounds. 👏 Thanks to @alirezamnk , @IPFdoc and

Covid-19 has made our brains age faster, says a new study led by experts @MedicineUoN @UoNFacultyMHS and published @Nature even if you were never ill with the virus Read more @CosmopolitanUK ➡️ https://t.co/TBr90nrHcZ

برپایه پژوهشی به سرپرستی @alirezamnk در دانشگاه ناتینگهام، همه‌گیری کرونا یک تاثیر دیگر هم بر روی مغز بشر داشته: پیری زودرس! بر این اساس، فارغ از اینکه به کووید۱۹ مبتلا شده باشید یا نه، در دوران همه‌گیری مغزتان حدود شش ماه از حد معمول پیرتر شده است! گزارش هفته‌نامه تایم:

Rates of brain ageing accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, even among those who did not get infected with SARS-CoV-2, suggests a study of nearly 1,000 UK adults published in @NatureComms. https://t.co/qSF5z26pvm

The 2nd highlighted sentence in the conclusion makes the key point that Covid affected cognitive decline, especially in older people. Nature coverage here https://t.co/MEK3ByyNIv

good summary of main findings

The Covid pandemic accelerated brain aging as seen in @uk_biobank paired MRI, 2 cohorts https://t.co/AoPX6JRuca

10/ Proud to work alongside brilliant colleagues including: @SNSotiropoulos, @SPMIC_UoN, @IPFdoc, and Dorothee Auer. This work was supported by @NottmBRC and @The_MRC #Demistifi

9/ Why it matters: This study adds to our understanding of how large-scale disruptions affect brain health, even in people without illness. It underscores the need for mental and cognitive health support in future public health crises.

8/ 🧠 Is it reversible? We don’t yet know. Proving reversibility would require a third scan, years later, which is not currently available. More research is needed on recovery and resilience.

7/ What caused this? We can’t pinpoint exact mechanisms, but stress, isolation, disrupted routines, and reduced physical and cognitive activity during lockdowns may have played a role.

6/ We also looked at cognition. 📉 Participants who were infected with COVID showed small but measurable declines in cognitive performance (processing speed, flexibility). No such change was seen in non-infected individuals, despite the brain ageing pattern.

5/ The effect was strongest in: – Males – Individuals from more disadvantaged backgrounds This highlights the broader societal toll of the pandemic, not just direct effects of the virus.

4/ 📊 Key finding: The pandemic group showed signs of ~5.5 months of extra brain ageing over a 3-year period compared to the control group. This effect was seen even in people who had not been infected with SARS-CoV-2.

3/ We applied a machine learning model trained on 15,000+ healthy individuals to estimate “brain age” from each scan. This allowed us to track how much the brain appeared to age between scans—independent of chronological time.

2/ We used brain MRI scans from 996 healthy adults in the @uk_biobank . Two groups: – 542 had both scans before the pandemic (control) – 404 had one scan before and one after the pandemic began (pandemic group)

🧵1/ New study alert: Our latest research shows that living through the COVID-19 pandemic—even without infection—was linked to signs of accelerated brain ageing. Published today in Nature Communications. 🔗

Does the pandemic impact brain health even without direct infection? Yes, the pandemic alone induced accelerated brain ageing. Older individuals and those from deprived backgrounds were especially affected. This highlights the need to address broader social & health inequalities.

What is the relationship between #Covid_19 and cognitive performance? Accelerated brain ageing correlated with reduced cognitive performance in infected participants. Those who experienced the pandemic without infection had similar age-related cognitive declines as controls.

Which groups are most affected by accelerated brain ageing during the pandemic? It was more pronounced in males and those from deprived backgrounds, with increases of 3.3 and 7 months, respectively, regardless of SARS-CoV-2 infection. #HealthDisparities #BrainAgeing