I wanted to mention Pulitzer Prize winning science writer Pam Belluck's March 7 New York Times piece regarding the Oxford study demonstrating brain shrinkage in Covid-19 patients.
Belluck tackles many of the unanswered questions, including whether severity of illness is correlated with brain shrinkage, disparities in brain shrinkage by age, and how long-term Covid fits into the brain shrinkage questions. She also addresses some of the limits of the study, including the 51 to 81 age bracket.
In addition, she discusses the types of cognitive damage suggested by the study. Memory per se, for example, appears relatively undamaged, but Covid patients did poorly with the trail-making test, which involves speed of analysis and ability to focus.
Given that The New York Times did such a serious piece, it's baffling that the study wasn't featured on CNN or MSNBC. My question is why. If the study's results are confirmed by other studies, the ramifications are enormous. Belluck underlines the key questions going forward. Will a Covid-infected population experience earlier dementia onset and more severe dementia compared to previous non-Covid populations?
I don't understand why this topic isn't front and center in American news cycles. The study needs to be replicated as soon and as often as possible.
Bob Dietz
April 8, 2022
