Latest news with #DorotheeAuer
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Human Brains Rapidly Aged in The Pandemic, And It Wasn't Just The Virus
The devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic may have left a significant mark on our brains, even if we didn't get sick. Fatal cases of COVID-19 look scarily like old age in the brain, and now, new research suggests that the mental, social, and financial stresses of the pandemic may have aged our brains as well. A team led by researchers at the University of Nottingham trained an AI model to recognize healthy aging in the brain, using the data of more than 15,000 adults in the UK Biobank. The algorithm was then used to analyze the brain ages of two groups: one that had brain scans taken before the pandemic and another that had brain scans taken both before and during the pandemic. Related: During the pandemic, the average human brain aged five and a half months faster than it did before 2020. "What surprised me most was that even people who hadn't had COVID showed significant increases in brain aging rates," says neurologist Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad from Nottingham, who led the study. "It really shows how much the experience of the pandemic itself, everything from isolation to uncertainty, may have affected our brain health." The good news is that those changes may be reversible. The study only analyzed brain scans from two time points, which means that there may have been neurological recovery in the years that followed. "We can't yet test whether the changes we saw will reverse, but it's certainly possible, and that's an encouraging thought," says neurologist Dorothee Auer from Nottingham. What's more, just because a person's brain may have aged at a faster rate during the pandemic, doesn't mean their cognitive function was necessarily impacted. In fact, the only individuals in the study who showed decreased cognitive performance were those who were directly infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Still, the findings suggest that a major life event like a pandemic can have a significant impact on the brain, even if you don't get sick. In the first few years of the global pandemic, millions of humans died, and billions more dealt with a tidal wave of grief, loneliness, depression, anxiety, financial stress, and sleep disturbances. Initial research found teenagers were particularly affected by the global crisis, with the adolescent brain showing concerning signs of accelerated aging after 2020, similar to teens experiencing violence, neglect, or family dysfunction. The brains of young girls showed especially pronounced thinning in the cortex, which is a brain region primarily composed of gray matter. But the current study among adults found that male brains were more vulnerable to both grey and white matter changes. Signs of accelerated aging were also particularly evident among older people and among socially or economically disadvantaged groups. Previous studies have found that social isolation can change the structure of the brain, and poverty is also linked to accelerated brain aging. Both could be factors leading to structural changes in the brain, but it's important to remain cautious. Sweeping, long-term studies using brain scans can provide scientists with useful clues as to how major life events, like birth, parenthood, or menstruation, might be impacting our central nervous systems. But without closer research, it's impossible to say why these brain regions are changing, or what impact the changes might have on cognitive function, or our behavior. "This study reminds us that brain health is shaped not only by illness, but by our everyday environment," concludes Auer. "The pandemic put a strain on people's lives, especially those already facing disadvantage." The study was published in Nature Communications. Related News Eating Eggs Can Actually Lower Bad Cholesterol, New Study Says Vape Fluid Warps The Skulls of Fetal Mice, Study Shows Heart Cancer Strikes Very Rarely. An Expert Reveals Why.
Buzz Feed
2 days ago
- Health
- Buzz Feed
Apparently Covid Aged All Our Brains, Even If You Didn't Catch It
Those with long Covid, a condition which sees symptoms persist months or even years after catching the Covid-19 virus, have long reported 'brain fog'. Though scientists aren't sure why the link seems to exist, some suspect that Covid can persist in the gut long after the acute infection has gone – creating microbiome changes associated with brain issues. But new research published in Nature Communications last week (22 July) has suggested the pandemic may have aged all of our brains, whether we caught the virus or not. In fact, it appeared to have aged our brains by nearly six months. How much did the pandemic age our brains? The researchers looked at the brain scans of almost 1,000 healthy people from the UK Biobank study. They checked them before the pandemic, and some had scans after, too. Using data from over 15,000 brain scans, along with machine learning and imaging, the scientists predicted the brain age of the participants involved in the study. After comparing like-for-like scans (participants were matched for gender, age, and health status), the researchers found that, on average, our brains' ageing appeared to have been accelerated by 5.5 months after the pandemic. This was the case whether or not participants had actually caught Covid themselves. 'What surprised me most was that even people who hadn't had Covid showed significant increases in brain ageing rates,' the study's lead author Dr Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad said. 'It really shows how much the experience of the pandemic itself, everything from isolation to uncertainty, may have affected our brain health.' Why did the pandemic appear to make our brains age faster? This study didn't seek to find that out, but its results suggest that brain ageing may have hit men and socioeconomically-disadvantaged people harder. The researchers speculated that a lack of socialising and exercise for some in the pandemic may have led to the change, as could increased consumption of alcohol. 'This study reminds us that brain health is shaped not only by illness, but by our everyday environment,' Dr Dorothee Auer, Professor of Neuroimaging and senior author on the study, said. 'The pandemic put a strain on people's lives, especially those already facing disadvantage. We can't yet test whether the changes we saw will reverse, but it's certainly possible, and that's an encouraging thought.'
The Star
3 days ago
- Health
- The Star
Study: Covid-19 has affected our brains
The strain on people's lives during the pandemic such as weeks of isolation and uncertainty surrounding the crisis may have aged people's brains, researchers believe. — dpa The Covid-19 pandemic was 'detrimental' to brain health, even among people who never caught the infection, a new study reveals. Academics suggest the strain on people's lives – from isolation for weeks on end to the uncertainty surrounding the crisis – may have aged the brains of society. They found that brain ageing during the pandemic was 'more pronounced' among men, older people and people from deprived backgrounds. Brain ageing models were trained on more than 15,000 healthy people. These were then applied to almost 1,000 people taking part in the UK Biobank study – a long-term study tracking the health of middle and older aged adults. Half of the group had brain scans before the pandemic while the others had brain scans before and after the global crisis. After looking at the scans, academics said that the pandemic 'significantly' accelerated brain ageing. This was assessed by their brain age, as determined by the scans, compared with their actual age. The research team found that, on average, the scans taken after people had lived through the crisis had a '5.5-month higher deviation of brain age gap'. 'We found that the Covid-19 pandemic was detrimental to brain health and induced accelerated brain ageing. regardless of SARS-CoV-2 infection,' the experts from the University of Nottingham wrote in the journal Nature Communications . Dr Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad, who led the study, said: 'What surprised me most was that even people who hadn't had Covid showed significant increases in brain ageing rates. 'It really shows how much the experience of the pandemic itself, everything from isolation to uncertainty, may have affected our brain health.' The research team also examined whether having Covid-19 affected someone's cognitive performance by examining the results of tests taken at the time of the scans. They found that people who were infected with the virus appeared to perform more poorly on cognitive tests when they were assessed again after the pandemic. Dr Dorothee Auer, professor of neuroimaging and senior author on the study, added: 'This study reminds us that brain health is shaped not only by illness, but by our everyday environment. 'The pandemic put a strain on people's lives, especially those already facing disadvantage. 'We can't yet test whether the changes we saw will reverse, but it's certainly possible, and that's an encouraging thought.' – PA Media/dpa
Cosmopolitan
3 days ago
- Health
- Cosmopolitan
Covid has made our brains age faster, says a new study – even if you were never ill with the virus
A new study from the University of Nottingham suggests the Covid pandemic may have left a very real impact on our brains, even if we were never sick with the virus. After analysing the data of over 15,000 adults via the UK Biobank – a biomedical treasure trove of health data and samples from half a million participants – scientists, with the help of artificial intelligence, compared brain ages found in two distinct two groups. One group had multiple brain scans taken before the pandemic over a set period of time, the second looked at those with scans taken both before and during the pandemic. Via this method, researchers found on average the human brain aged five and a half months faster during the pandemic than it did pre-2020. "This study reminds us that brain health is shaped not only by illness, but by our everyday environment," explains Dorothee Auer, Professor of Neuroimaging and senior author on the study. "The pandemic put a strain on people's lives, especially those already facing disadvantage. We can't yet test whether the changes we saw will reverse, but it's certainly possible, and that's an encouraging thought." The University study reports that "the changes were most noticeable in older individuals, in men, and in people from more disadvantaged backgrounds". It's a staunch reminder of just how big an impact stress and worry can have on our minds and bodies. "What surprised me most was that even people who hadn't had COVID showed significant increases in brain aging rates," added neurologist Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad, who also worked on the study. "It really shows how much the experience of the pandemic itself, everything from isolation to uncertainty, may have affected our brain health." Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC's Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women's Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
India Today
24-07-2025
- Health
- India Today
You didn't catch Covid, but your brain might have felt it anyway
A new study led by experts at the University of Nottingham has uncovered evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic may have accelerated the ageing of people's brains, even among those who were never infected with the findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest that the unprecedented stress, isolation, and social disruption of the pandemic have left a physical imprint on the drew on detailed brain scans from nearly 1,000 healthy adults participating in the UK Biobank project. By comparing scans taken before and after the pandemic, and using sophisticated machine learning models, they estimated each person's 'brain age', a measure of how old a brain appears compared to the person's actual age. The brain age model was trained on over 15,000 healthy individuals, providing a highly accurate baseline for comparison. The study found that, on average, the brains of people who lived through the pandemic aged 5.5 months faster for every chronological year, compared to those scanned entirely before the the effect was more pronounced in older adults, men, and those from socio-economically disadvantaged and ReversibilityWhile the study observed physical signs of accelerated brain ageing across the population, declines in cognitive abilities, such as mental flexibility and processing speed, were only seen in participants who had actually contracted suggests that, although pandemic-related brain ageing was widespread, it may not always be accompanied by noticeable symptoms in those who did not get the researchers highlighted that these changes could be reversible. Professor Dorothee Auer, senior author on the study, said, 'This study reminds us that brain health is shaped not only by illness, but by our everyday environment. The pandemic put a strain on people's lives, especially those already facing disadvantage. We can't yet test whether the changes we saw will reverse, but it's certainly possible, and that's an encouraging thought'. The study points to the importance of supporting mental and brain health during times of societal upheaval. Dr. Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad, lead author, noted, 'Even people who hadn't had Covid showed significant increases in brain ageing rates. It really shows how much the experience of the pandemic itself, everything from isolation to uncertainty, may have affected our brain health'.These findings open new avenues for public health research on the long-term consequences of global crises on the brain, and reinforce the need for targeted support for vulnerable groups.- EndsTrending Reel
