Science

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The pandemic has caused sustained harm to the brain health of people aged 50 or over, rapidly speeding up cognitive decline regardless of whether or not they caught Covid, researchers have discovered.

A study has found that cognitive function and working memory in older adults declined more quickly during the first year of the pandemic between March 2020 and February 2021, even if they were not infected with the virus.

The research is the largest of its kind to link the pandemic conditions – and the enormous lifestyle shifts triggered by lockdowns and other Covid restrictions – to sustained cognitive decline.

The scale of change is also of note, with all groups – the whole cohort and the individual subgroups – showing more than a 50% greater decline in working memory and executive function.”

Dr Dorina Cadar, a senior lecturer in cognitive epidemiology and dementia at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, who was not involved with the study, said it was clear the effects of the pandemic on the general population had been “catastrophic”.

“This study also highlights reduced exercise, alcohol use, depression, and loneliness as key risk factors that affected the rates of cognitive decline in the older population during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

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