COVID-19 Pandemic Accelerated Brain Aging Even in People Who Didn’t Get Virus: Study

‘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 said.

An undated electron microscope image shows the Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (yellow) emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab. NIAID-RML/AP/The Canadian Press

Brain aging appears to have accelerated by several months during the COVID-19 pandemic, even in people who did not get sick from the virus, according to a new study.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications on July 22, found that in 2021 and 2022, brain scans from a large UK database showed signs of aging, including brain shrinkage, even in individuals who were never infected.