COVID infection can lead to shrinkage in the brain that can affect your sense of smell and other cognitive functions, a recent study has revealed.
Previously, several studies relating to COVID and its effect on the brain have been conducted, but most studies have focused on hospitalised patients with severe disease, and have been limited to post-infection data.
The study that was conducted by the researchers at the University of Oxford identified a number of effects including the reduction in grey matter thickness in the regions of the brain associated with smell.
These effects ranged from 0.2 to 2% additional change compared with the participants who had not been infected. On average, the participants who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 also showed greater cognitive decline, associated with the atrophy of a specific part of the cerebellum, a brain structure linked to cognition.