UK's muddy saltmarshes vital to tackle climate change, report finds
Much of the UK's saltmarshes have been lost to agriculture but the charity says they are unsung heroes in nature's fight against climate change.
It is now calling for these muddy, tidal habitats to be added to the official UK inventory of how much carbon is emitted and how much is removed from our atmosphere every year.
This formal recognition could, it hopes, provide more of an incentive to restore and protect more of these sites.
Working with researchers from the UK's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, a WWF team installed solar-powered greenhouse gas monitoring stations on Hesketh Out Marsh, a saltmarsh in North-West England that has been restored and is managed by the RSPB.
Analysing gases in the air flowing around the marsh - over the course of a year - revealed how plants there "breathe in" more carbon dioxide in the summer than they release in winter.
These new findings build on previous studies that have measured the amount of carbon in the marshland's mud.
To carry it out, the team fixed analytical equipment to a sturdy 2.5m tall tower made of scaffolding poles. The site is regularly flooded by the tide, so the tower has kept their kit safe from salt water and debris.
With WWF's ocean conservation specialist, Tom Brook as our guide, we waded through the thigh-high grass to visit the site of the experiment.
At low tide, the sea is not visible beyond the expanse of grassland, but the area is littered with driftwood, some plastic waste and there is even a small, upturned boat nearby.
"The plants grow so quickly here in spring and summer that they almost grow on top of each other - layering and decomposing," Tom said. "That captures carbon in the soils. So while we're typically taught about how trees breathe in carbon and store that in the wood, here salt marshes are doing that as mud.
"So the mud here is just as important for climate mitigation as trees are."
WWF has published its first year of findings in a report called The Importance of UK Saltmarshes. Unusually, this been co-published with an insurance company that is interested in understanding the role these sites have in protecting homes from coastal flooding.
The UK has lost about 85% of its saltmarshes since 1860. They were seen as useless land and many were drained for agriculture.
Hesketh Out Marsh has been restored - bought by the wildlife charity RSPB and re-flooded by tide. Now, in late spring, it is teeming with bird life. A variety of species, including avocets, oyster catchers and black-tailed godwits, probe the mud for food and nest on the land between lagoons and streams.
The researchers hope the findings will help make the case to restore and protect more of these muddy bufferzones between the land and the sea.
"The mud here is so important," explained Alex Pigott, the RSPB warden at Hesketh Out Marsh. "It's is like a service station for birds."
With their differently shaped bills - some ideal for scooping and some for probing - marshland birds feed in the tidal mud.
"We know these sites act as a natural flood defences, too and that they store carbon," said Ms Pigott. "Any any of these habitats that we can restore will be a big win for nature."
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37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
I lost almost 3st in a year with fat jabs. It's not cheating
I feel reborn. I've been trying to think of a less dramatic way of saying it, but it's my birthday this week and I have acquired a delightful new lease of life in my 60s, so reborn is the right word. It's almost a year since I wrote in these pages that I was starting Mounjaro (tirzepatide), one of the new weight loss drugs that is revolutionising medical science essentially by sending a signal to your brain to tell it you are full. How has that gone? Well, on a purely practical level, I am no longer carrying an excess 38lb around with me – not far off what Royal Engineers must bear on their backs to complete an eight-mile ruck march in two hours. I was carrying my load 24 hours a day, on a small frame and without a soldier's brawn (we'll come to muscle in a minute). I can only offer my sincere apologies to my hips and knees – since drastically taking the pressure off them, all the pain I was experiencing has vanished. For those who have never struggled with their weight, as millions of us do, Mounjaro and Ozempic (semaglutide, a diabetes drug which can be used off-label for weight loss) are 'cheating'. Just jab fatty's little helper into your thigh once a week and, according to certain critics, it will magic away the pounds without the penitence and self-denial that sections of society appear to feel the fat owe to the thin. While 'fat-shaming' is now frowned upon (although people judge the obese all the time, of course they do), the media can be snarky about those who take medicine to help them slim down. They're not the only ones. 'You really don't want to lose any more,' your thinnest friend will advise you. It's always the slimmest friends who have the greatest difficulty watching you become a healthy size – as if they count on you to be the fat one, and feel betrayed when you start attracting some of the admiring attention that should belong to them, obviously. That's why many people who are 'on the pens', particularly women, I suspect, keep it a secret, even from their partners. They are scared of being seen as weak-willed and feeble. It is somehow shameful to take a weight-loss drug in a way it is not shameful to take statins, metformin or other drugs that become necessary when you are – yes – overweight. Try to make sense of that double standard if you can. Well, it's nobody's business, and anyway I'm far too happy with my new self to care what anyone thinks, but my transformation has taken persistence and hard work. Accelerated weight loss equals rapid muscle wastage, and I can't afford to lose any muscle at my age. Taking advantage of your new, suppressed appetite and shrunken stomach, it would be perfectly possible to exist on a pain au chocolat and a packet of crisps a day (some do), but you would rapidly become ill and malnourished. Your hair would fall out (one of the commonly cited side-effects of Mounjaro). I hired an exceptional personal trainer, James Wilkinson, from my local gym in Saffron Walden, and we set out on a mission to replace any muscle that was wasting away. Lifting weights at least twice a week, I was under orders to eat as much protein as I could. Cottage cheese was my new best friend. A sentence I never hoped to write. 'You were as weak as a kitten when we started,' James often reminded me when I was squashed and protesting loudly in a medieval leg-press contraption known (not fondly) as the 'bacon-slicer'. I've had more dignified smear tests. A couple of months ago, I texted James in a panic saying that my legs were suddenly looking 'really weird' and a bit like stringy hams. What could be wrong? 'Er, that's called muscle, Allison,' said the trainer. (He has kept his other clients entertained with reports of my cluelessness ever since.) Reader, I am an anatomical drawing! Legs are looking really good, arms are a work in progress, but something called 'definition' has been sighted. I am not yet ripped, more lightly frayed, but give me time. Looking back at the first entry in my Mounjaro diary last August, I weighed just over 12st, way too much for a 5ft 4in female with narrow hips lurking somewhere beneath the pillowy plumpness. My BMI was 28.8 (overweight) and, unsurprisingly, I was pre-diabetic. There was also a family history of heart attacks. 'You are at a crossroads,' my doctor, Rob Howlett, a private GP in Cambridge, told me flatly. 'If you carry on along this path, ahead lies diabetes, stroke, heart disease and dementia.' Gee, the four horses of the health apocalypse. All of that could be reversed, though, Dr Rob promised. Mounjaro, he said, was 'the closest thing to a miracle drug' he had encountered in his forty-year career. 'It's not just about weight,' he told me, 'the drugs reduce visceral fat, improve blood sugar control and lower the risk of heart disease.' Basically, the midlife 'midriff bulge' that the much-missed Terry Wogan used to tease Radio Two listeners about doesn't just make it an ordeal to do up a zip; it increases your risk profile for all the major Nasties. Still, I hesitated. For months. Truth be told, I am secretly one of those judgmental, get-a-grip-woman, just-eat-less puritans I can't stand. I had lost weight before by myself, so I could do it, couldn't I? 'Yes, but you keep putting it back on again,' said the doctor, jabbing at my notes which charted the dizzy highs and self-loathing lows of my constant battle to shed the pounds since having two implausibly large babies in the late Nineties. (Hoovering up leftover chicken nuggets from kids' teas solidified that 'baby weight' into a permanent malaise.) 'The drugs offer powerful, reliable results where diets and willpower often fail,' Rob said. 'That doesn't mean they should replace a healthy lifestyle, but they can give people the head start they need to reclaim their health.' Feeling pretty low by that point, both physically and mentally, I gave in and signed up with Dr Claire Gillvray, who runs a wellbeing and weight loss clinic in Cambridge. Claire both supplies Mounjaro and offers support to patients, including advice on diet and exercise classes. It was certainly worth the extra expense in the first few months when I bombarded her with queries. I began on the 2.5mg starting dose and felt it take effect within hours, although many people don't experience that until a larger injection. The 'food noise' in my brain that would see me rustling in the kitchen cupboards for something sweet an hour after I'd eaten dinner was stilled. I was elated when I lost 5lb in the first fortnight, but thereafter progress was slow and steady. Sometimes a pound a week, sometimes nothing at all. In the entry for Friday, Sept 13, when I was stuck at 11.7st, I drew a sad face with a downturned mouth. On Sunday, Sept 29, I was 11.1st – 'Lost 1 1/4lb this week, too slow,' I scribbled furiously. 'Not enough exercise?!!' Frequently, I would vent my frustration in texts to Dr Claire, who would calmly reply that 'things are changing internally and remember you are doing this for your long-term health.' Yes, yes, marvellous to think my poor old liver is less fatty, but I want to LOSE WEIGHT, dammit! It occurred to me that, counterintuitively, I was eating too little, so I increased my daily calories a bit. It helped. At the seven-week point, on Oct 4, a moment of triumph: 'Into the ten's!' I had dropped below 11st. People are understandably impatient to see the weight drop off. The mistake many make is increasing the dose too quickly, which can lead to those unpleasant side effects the media never stops printing scare stories about. (Boris Johnson reported that he was shedding 4 or 5lb a week on Ozempic when he started to dread the injections because they were making him feel ill. 'One minute I would be fine, and the next minute I would be talking to Ralph on the big white phone; and I am afraid that I decided that I couldn't go on.' I recommend Boris gives it another go with more user-friendly Mounjaro.) I have only ever gone up to 5mg, the second-lowest dose, and the only problems I've had are with constipation (magnesium tablets at night and a bit more fibre fixed that) and the ghastly 'sulphur burps' which make your mouth fill up with the noxious fumes from a stinky volcano. (I had an attack of the Etna reflux at a smart London dinner and spent the evening trying not to breathe out lest I horrify my famous neighbours on either side.) Mounjaro for me has always been a slender handrail to hold onto as I try to reset my dysfunctional relationship with food. 'Eat what you need first and then eat what you want,' trainer James advised. It really helped to think very consciously about feeding my body the good stuff it needed to thrive and build that all-important muscle. One evening, on my way home from a drinks party and starting to feel hungry without having had dinner, I stood scanning the shelves of tempting snacks in the train station shop. The old me would have picked up a bar of Dairy Milk, maybe a sandwich and some crisps – exactly the carbs I was now trying to avoid. 'There's nothing for you here,' I thought, and walked away. I really wanted a snack, but the progress I had made was more precious to me. Not only was Mounjaro helping to reduce my appetite, but I didn't want to taint my success so far by eating junk food. That was a turning point. Another milestone came in early December when Rob sent me an email. Subject: 'Blood test results and Gold Blue Peter badge.' My weight, he said, had dropped from 11st 13lb to 9st 13lb – a reduction of 16.4 per cent. I was no longer diabetic. Bad cholesterol had fallen by 30 per cent. Something called triglycerides (fat in the blood) dropped by 40 per cent. 'Amazing!' my doctor exclaimed. 'Not just the drug, Allison, you have made a big difference as well. But the combination of the two is stunning.' What a feeling of accomplishment – I was overjoyed. I had restored my body to her rightful self. To borrow a mantra on the gym wall, which I would once have found tooth-rottingly absurd, I was the me I wanted to be. Not just that, there was a new mental clarity. Having cut back on refined carbohydrates and focused on protein and fibre, I was now free from the blood sugar surges and crashes that had dictated my mood for so much of my life. It was like I'd been chained to a lunatic (greed/comfort eating) for years and suddenly released. It took time to adjust. My rings were loose on my fingers, and I suffered from a strange kind of body dysmorphia, unable to navigate my new size. In a favourite boutique, I found a top I liked but there was only an extra-small or a large on the rail. I asked for a medium and Hayley, the owner, laughed. 'You'll get into that extra-small,' she said. Who, me? She was right – it fitted. My daughter sold many of my bigger clothes on Vinted; others I've donated to charity shops, while some old favourites went to another Mounjaro user who's lost a heroic 4 1/2st and is now down to my original size 14 (another 2st to go before she reaches her goal). I have bought myself a new wardrobe of colourful or striking clothes I would never have dared wear. My new blue-and-white Margaret Thatcher pussy-bow tribute dress would have looked frumpy on me before, instead of elegant, I know. This new person no longer wears cardigans over summer dresses in the heat. 'You've been used to trying to hide your body, now you're not hiding,' Hayley said, and I realised that was true. Buying new clothes isn't cheap, of course, but think what I've saved on that hip replacement a consultant warned I'd probably need before I started Mounjaro – and the excruciating pain that has since vanished. I've also been able to revive outfits that I'd imagined I'd never wear again. What a surprise and a pleasure it is to put on a skirt you last wore pre-motherhood and find that it fits! Someone flatteringly asked if I'd had a facelift – no, but another major saving! I do have friends on Gaunt Watch – they've sworn to warn me if my cheeks look like they're caving in, which can be a consequence of excessive weight loss. If I had a magic wand right now, I would wave it and give this feeling – this lovely freedom from self-consciousness, this sense of being confident and entirely happy in your own skin – to every single person who has struggled time and again to lose weight and fallen back, dejected, into the sticky embrace of the Cookie Monster. Please don't think of it as cheating; think of it as a leveller that gives everyone the willpower to shed burdensome pounds and embed routines that make for sustainable change. A month ago, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: 'The NHS should be providing this medication to as many people as is needed. Obesity is now one of the leading causes of ill health, costing the NHS billions.' He's absolutely right. Although Mounjaro has finally been approved for use on the NHS in England, it is only under incredibly strict criteria – including that patients must have a BMI of 40 or over, plus four other weight-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. This spectacularly misses the point: weight loss like mine (and early intervention) is meant to prevent those serious conditions from developing in the first place. We could curb the obesity epidemic and start getting millions who are mired in misery and hopelessness off the sofa – and off disability benefits too. Dr Claire Gillvray is passionate about the medication as a health game-changer and wants everyone who needs Mounjaro to be able to access it. 'I worry about the health inequality and the delay in access within the NHS,' she says. 'I want to use it with my patients to get them ready for hip surgery and those with mental health problems to prevent them developing metabolic syndrome and dying 20 years younger than they should, but that unfortunately feels like years away.' Claire Gillvray, Rob Howlett and James 'See, I told you you could lift it' Wilkinson have been my guides on this incredible journey. 'You've changed your life around, Allison,' Claire says, 'gained healthy life years, but it has not just been about the injection. You have worked really hard. I'm proud of you.' If I can do it, so can you. I had no interest in exercise, and my main food group was paprika Pringles. Today, I'm lifting two-and-a-half times the weight I could a year ago and, every morning, I sprinkle on my Greek yogurt a protein-rich sawdust that rightly belongs on the floor of a gerbil cage. It's worth it because zips do up without protest, my triglycerides are world class and I'm not going to get dementia. At speaking engagements around the country, I've met Telegraph subscribers who read my original Mounjaro article last September and decided to try it too. (Wives tended to lead the way, with dubious husbands grumbling, but soon converted, and now approaching smug.) They come up beaming, often hug me, gesture down at their sylphlike forms and whisper, 'Best thing ever.' I couldn't agree more. Mounjaro, in the immortal words of The Stylistics: You make me feel brand new. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
I'm seven months pregnant and scared of the birth. This is what every mother should ask
In 1928, my great-grandmother, Bertha, died from puerperal fever after giving birth. She was 32. Her baby, Audrey, also died. My grandmother, then two years old, was subsequently raised by her aunt. That same year, penicillin was discovered – and in the ensuing decades we entered a golden age of maternity care where the maternal mortality rate dropped significantly. When I was born in 1984 and my mother contracted a post-partum infection, the consequences were very different. Childbirth remains though, a complex and necessary fact of life. Women are not ignorant that it will be painful, that the unexpected will happen, that things might rip and tear. However, today they face significant other anxieties, about the very nature of the care they might receive. Maternity care services in the UK are facing significant staffing shortages, and as a result there are very real concerns about the safety and quality of care provided. Indeed, last year a study found the number of women in the UK who have died during pregnancy or soon after has risen to its highest levels for 20 years. Meanwhile, last year 41 per cent of all compensation pay outs by the NHS related to maternity care, equating to a staggering £1.15 billion. And now, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced a national inquiry into maternity care in England, saying there is 'too much passing the buck'. It is in this unfavourable climate that I find myself seven months pregnant. 'Fear of birth' is the label applied by the NHS for those women who are anxious about childbirth. Mine might be more reasonably called, 'Fear of bad maternity care'. Most women don't need to read about the horror in the news, they have friends and loved ones who've been snapped at by midwives, denied pain relief and been made to feel like a failure when they struggle to breast-feed. When GP Clara Doran gave birth to her son 11 years ago, she found herself in a hospital ward at 5am, crying, her baby dehydrated and losing weight, feeling like a total failure. She realised that even with all her medical training, she still needed support and hadn't been told what to actually expect. Dr Doran has written a memoir, Doctor, Interrupted, which is both a powerful and, at times, funny account of the gap between what the NHS says it offers new mums – and what they really get. Of NHS maternity care, she says: 'We do have to have trust that today's health care is guided by the right things. That healthy baby, healthy mum is the driving force. But there are unfortunately, like in any work place, other factors that can influence how that translates to your experience.' So how can pregnant women like me get the best from the NHS in this unfavourable climate? On the basis that forewarned is forearmed, here are the questions to ask your midwife ahead of giving birth. What signs should prompt me to go to the hospital urgently? Blood spotting, baby not moving, waters broken; whatever the issue, this can be a hard question for expectant mums to ask. Darcey Croft is a specialist midwife who helps women advocate for themselves and navigate the maternity system. In her experience, women feel embarrassed because the NHS is so busy. 'They don't want to make a nuisance of themselves, and they definitely should,' she says. 'I would give triage a call to the maternity unit and if you're not getting the right response, insist. Say, 'I'm still feeling very concerned, and I would like to be reviewed'. 'We know that women asking questions have safer outcomes. Even if someone is tutting at them. They will be seen.' Should I request a C-section? Requests are increasing for planned caesareans. According to Croft: 'It is a sad reflection of the confidence women have in maternity systems at the moment.' Every women has the right to ask for a planned caesarean. The reason can be medical or psychological. I knew I wanted to request a caesarean almost immediately, for a variety of reasons. One is that big babies run in my family. I was 10lb 12oz at birth, my poor mother gave birth vaginally. The main reason though is my age. Women aged over 40 are significantly more likely to have an emergency C-section compared to younger mothers. A study showed a 22.4 per cent emergency caesarean rate for women over 40, compared to 6.7 per cent for those aged 20-24. Dr Lucy Lord MBE is an obstetrician and founder of private clinic, Central Health London. She says: 'You can be lucky and labour like a 25 year old, but the chances of that are one in 10. You can be moderately lucky and labour like a 35 year old, but still over half of births in this age group end in a C-section.' She adds: 'If you're under 25, and so is your BMI, and you've got a normally growing baby and no other complications, you can be pretty sure no matter how c--p the labour ward is, you'll be OK.' The subject can be an emotive issue, with a perception that a vaginal birth is more natural. In Dr Lord's opinion good obstetric care is about risk stratification. 'I say to women, don't think with your heart, think with your head.' Not all NHS hospitals are equipped to perform immediate emergency C-sections. So if you're high risk it's worth checking, so you can move to another hospital if necessary. Am I a good candidate for a home birth or would the hospital be safer? One in 50 births each year in England and Wales take place at home. There has been a small increase in recent years and Dr Doran wonders if this is part of a trend towards expecting mothers trying to avoid any intervention. If you are categorised as a low risk, home births are very safe, says Croft: 'The midwifery team and doctors should be assessing to say whether you are perfect for a home birth.' The advantage is that they are less timed than hospital births, where a cascade of interventions can ensue. During a home birth midwives can usually tell which way things are heading before there is ever an emergency, adds Croft. 'Occasionally things can escalate quickly and you would need to get an ambulance.' How will you make sure I'm informed and involved in decision-making during labour? Gathering as much knowledge before labour is imperative. 'I always maintain that women can go through any birth, and come out feeling positive, as long as they feel they are involved in their own care, making the decisions and that they felt listened to,' says Croft. Trauma happens when a woman doesn't feel safe and listened to. Don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion. 'Every shift will have a coordinator, who doesn't want poor feedback. If you're not getting the answer you want, ask to speak to the coordinator.' Ask how birth partners and advocates are included in labour. 'Women often make better decision when they're supported and feel emotionally safe,' says Croft. Will my birth plan be followed? While it's a good idea to have a birth plan stating your preferences, that doesn't mean your midwife is obliged to follow it. Or indeed will be able to. From medical complications, down to all the birthing pools being full, it's best to plan for the unexpected. Croft advises her clients against writing 'epic novels': 'I always guide women towards condensing it down to bullet points, including what's non-negotiable. That will get read.' However, it is important that you and your birthing partner have talked through all scenarios and you feel comfortable that they're going to emphasise your preferences. When speaking up, Dr Doran advises leading with your vulnerability. 'Such as: the pain you are experiencing. Then it is harder for it to be ignored,' she says. Will a consultant or senior doctor be available if complications arise during labour or before? Yes. Every unit will have a consultant present or on call, even in the middle of the night. 'If it's a birth centre and a midwifery-led unit, there might not be any doctors there,' explains Croft. 'That woman will be transferred into the consultant-led unit.' What if I change my mind about pain relief? Dr Doran says: 'Pain relief will always be available as long as it is safe and appropriate for you and baby at your stage of labour. No one knows how they will cope with labour pain until they experience it so go with the flow and listen to your body. No one is keeping score.' What are the signs of sepsis or infection I should watch for after birth? Early signs include fever and flu-like symptoms. 'As soon as someone starts to feel unwell they should speak up,' says Croft. 'If they feel dismissed, just reiterate, 'No, I feel very unwell.' Ask for a blood test for sepsis. It's fine to ask.' Escalation is important. 'Mums and dads can always ask for that second opinion. And if they don't feel listened to, ask for another one.' What should I expect on a postnatal ward? You're exhausted, you want to sleep and spend time with your new baby. And yet you are on a post-natal ward with five other women with a curtain around them. Home is the right place for a new mum. 'As soon as you're fit for discharge, get home,' says Croft. After a caesarean, try to mobilise as quickly as you can: 'Four to six hours after the operation try to move. You'll still have some of the pain relief onboard. If you lie there for 12 hours and then try to move, it will be a lot harder.' Whether you gave birth by caesarean or vaginally, one night's stay in hospital as a minimum is standard, in order to access breast-feeding support. 'Six hours is on offer but normally you'd have to request an early discharge.' Again, make a nuisance of yourself. 'Use your call bell. The women who are using it and asking for help go home feeling supported. There is an element where mums have to take responsibility or dads have to help advocate for support.' Who should I turn to if I feel anxious or depressed after the birth? It's not uncommon to feel depressed or anxious after giving birth. If you're blue it's important to seek help from your GP, midwife or health visitor. As Dr Doran says: 'We talk a lot about 'getting back to normal' or feel we should be able to master everything we did in our pre-baby life when we become parents. However other cultures see this differently and encourage new mums to stay in bed or at home for as long as possible in the days after birth to rest and adjust physically and mentally to what has happened.' At the core of the anxiety women can feel is feeding. Dr Doran speaks from experience: 'Having watched videos in antenatal class of the perfect attachment and breastfeeding experience occurring seamlessly, when it came to my turn, wondering why my baby wasn't doing this in the same way and being convinced it was my fault.' Take the help and support, but also nourishment of your baby is the most important thing. If this needs to be with formula or mixed feeding, that is absolutely fine and the right decision for you and your baby. 'Don't let anyone guilt you or make you feel less of a mum because of it,' she says. 'These days and weeks are the most exciting and special time, but they can be extremely hard too and fraught with tiredness, fear and self doubt. Take it easy on yourself, what is right for you is right for your baby and remember this is just the beginning of your lives together.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Medscape
an hour ago
- Medscape
COVID-19 Pandemic Tied to Accelerated Brain Aging
The COVID-19 pandemic may have accelerated brain aging, even among people who avoided becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2, new research suggested. By comparing longitudinal brain scans from healthy adults, researchers found that the average person's brain appeared to age by nearly 6 months for every year lived during the pandemic. 'What surprised me most was that even people who hadn't had COVID showed significant increases in brain aging rates,' lead author Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad, PhD, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, England, said in a statement. 'It really shows how much the experience of the pandemic itself, everything from isolation to uncertainty, may have affected our brain health,' Mohammadi-Nejad said. The study was published online on July 22 in Nature Communications . UK Biobank Data In addition to the well-documented respiratory and systemic manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection, compelling evidence has highlighted the ability of the virus to attack the central nervous system. Studies have shown high rates of fatigue, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and cognitive impairment in COVID-19 survivors. Research has also revealed potential associations between COVID-19, cognitive decline, brain changes, and the molecular signatures of brain aging. Mohammadi-Nejad and colleagues investigated the pandemic's impact on brain aging using longitudinal brain MRI data from 996 healthy adults participating in the UK Biobank study. Some participants had scans before and after the pandemic (the pandemic group); others, only before the pandemic (control group). They used advanced imaging and machine learning to estimate each person's 'brain age'— how old their brain appeared to be compared to their actual age. They used brain scans from 15,334 healthy individuals to develop a brain age model. Results showed that even with initially matched brain age gaps (predicted brain age vs chronological age) and matched for a range of health markers, the pandemic significantly accelerated brain aging. On average, the pandemic group showed a 5.5-month higher deviation of brain age gap at the second timepoint compared with the control group. In the pandemic group, increased brain age correlated with lower scores on standard cognitive tests, which might help explain why some people who had COVID-19 have shown impaired cognition, researchers said. Accelerated brain aging was more pronounced in males and those from deprived socio-demographic backgrounds and these deviations existed regardless of SARS-CoV-2 infection. 'Our findings provide valuable insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic affected brain health, demonstrating that the general pandemic effects alone, without infection, exerted a substantial detrimental effect on brain health, augmented by biosocial factors (age, health, and social inequalities) in a healthy middle-aged to older population,' the investigators note. 'Notably, the extent of accelerated brain aging over a matched pre-pandemic control group, observed in grey and white matter, was similar in both noninfected and infected sub-cohorts,' they noted. Interpret Cautiously In a statement from the UK nonprofit Science Media Center several experts weighed in on the results. 'While this is a very carefully conducted analysis, we have to be cautious with interpretation,' said Masud Husain, DPhil, BMBCh, FMedSci, professor of neurology & cognitive neuroscience, University of Oxford, Oxford, England. 'The brain age difference between the two groups (as indexed by brain scanning) was on average only 5 months, and difference in cognitive performance between groups was only on the total time taken to complete one of the tests. Is this really going to make a significant difference in everyday life?' Husain wondered. 'Furthermore, the time between scans was much shorter in the people scanned before and after the pandemic compared to those who had both scans before the pandemic. We therefore don't know if brain aging would have recovered if more time elapsed,' Husain said. Maxime Taquet, MBBCh, PhD, associate professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, said, 'It is important to note that the majority of people showed brain aging at the expected rate.' Nonetheless, Taquet said the findings raise 'important questions about the long-term neurological impact of the pandemic, whether due to infection itself or the broader psychological and social stress it caused.' Eugene Duff, PhD, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, England, cautioned that 'as an observational study it is not possible to fully exclude that factors unrelated to the pandemic could contribute to the observed acceleration. 'While the events of the pandemic were exceptional, this work demonstrates the stark effects that the conditions of an individual's life may have on brain and cognitive health, and the value of careful dissection of the myriad of local and global factors contributing to these conditions.'
