PATIENTS suffering from long Covid in Sussex are among the first in the world to take part in a pioneering study.
The £1.2 million research will investigate the long-term cognitive effects of the illness and how to treat it.
The Cognitive Impairment in long Covid: Phenotyping and Rehabilitation (CICERO) study is one of 15 studies across the UK backed by £20m of government funding through the National Institute for Health Research.
There are 200 people taking part in the study.
Research shows that a significant proportion of people continue to experience chronic symptoms many months after their initial Covid infection.
Dr Dennis Chan, the principal research fellow at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London leads the study, which will look into how long Covid affects the cognitive functions of the brain and whether personalised cognitive rehabilitation may help people return to normal function.
Dr Dennis, who is also a consultant neurologist at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, and his team will work with long Covid patients in his Cognitive Disorders Clinic in the Princess Royal Hospital in Hayward’s Heath.
Other long Covid sufferers will be recruited to take part in the trial.
Dr said nearly 90% of people who experience long Covid have problems with memory, attention or other cognitive functions - symptoms known colloquially as “brain fog”.
“We have to understand why people are affected in the ways they are, we need to identify better the nature of the cognitive problems then find therapies which will help people return to normal daily activities,” he said.
“People are familiar with the term brain fog when it comes to long Covid, but let’s be specific. Brain fog is referring to cognitive impairment and this is increasingly recognised as a major component of long Covid.
“It’s occurrence impacts quality of life and has major consequences for affected people, their families and the wider economy given people’s difficulty in returning to work.”
The study will first determine which elements of brain function are most affected, while MRI scanning will be used to identify the affected underlying brain networks.
Researchers will develop and test a new rehabilitation strategy to help people recover and return to normal life and working ability.
At the end of the study, a freely available Covid-19 Cognitive Recovery Guide will be produced which will help clinicians deliver a rehabilitation programme that is tailored to meet each individual’s needs.
Jason Lim, a cognitive Covid patient taking part in the study, is also a co-investigator in the study.
Jason says he got Covid in March 2020 but was never tested.
“It was hardly anything for the couple of weeks or so. But then I started going downhill fast,” he said.
He said fatigue and post exertional malaise began to get bad.
“It manifests itself in all sorts of ways – nausea, fatigue, gastro-intestinal problems, a whole breakdown really. It could last for days. I was struggling to get out of bed.”
The 46-year-old, from Brighton, was an active walker prior to getting Covid and says he would walk the half an hour trip to work each day.
“Now I can barely walk around the block. It’s hard to perform the simplest of tasks,” he said
“I want my old life back. To walk miles, watch a film and remember it, return to work properly. I’m only 46 - I’ve got so much yet to do.”
Results from the study should be known in two years.
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