An Oxford study has found that even mild covid infection may cause people to suffer from cognitive deficit, inability to smell, trouble doing mental calculations and think critically.
Some covid affected people may take longer to pick up meaning of things or focus on conversations. All these point towards the brain being rewired or worse damaged by covid.
Cognition is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and use of senses.
The study published in Nature journal found that the overall volume of the brain shrinks post-covid in some people.
The study noted that these changes are observed after several months after the covid infection and didn’t ascertain if they are permanent or will get better or heal with time.
There is no treatment for it.
OH physicians have a role to play, that is, to convince companies to have patience with covid affected employees demonstrating cognitive issues, keep their morale high and give them time to bounce back to their original performance levels.
The Oxford researchers study used scans of people recorded before the pandemic to study the effect of covid on people’s brain.
Talking about the findings, Gwenaëlle Douaud, an associate professor at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Oxford and the paper’s lead author said, “It is brain damage, but it is possible that it is reversible. However, it is still relatively scary because it was in mildly infected people.”
The study was conducted on the original and alpha variant of the virus, and not for Omicron.
These effects on the brain were mostly seen in the elderly population.
Doctors working full-time as OH physicians or as consultants in an industry are aware of this possibility, however, efforts must be made by them to sensitize the management, line managers and the HR so that they understand the challenges faced by some of the covid affected employees and deal humanely with the situation and give such employees sufficient time to recover.
OH physicians have a role to play, that is, to convince companies to have patience with covid affected employees demonstrating cognitive issues, keep their morale high and give them time to bounce back to their original performance levels.
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Dr Ajay Sati is an Occupational Health physician who prefers to describe himself as an Occupationist, to denote, ‘an expert in diseases and other concerns of occupations’. Dr Sati has managed health and wellness programs in industries he worked, like the atomic energy, and energy (oil & gas) in India and overseas. He was involved in many greenfield and brownfield projects providing inputs from health point of view. Known for SOPs and protocols, he is currently involved with an energy MNC in designing protocols to support employees during the covid pandemic, and protocols to safely reopen offices and plants.
