A study from #Brazil finds 1 in 4 adults who had mild #COVID19 demonstrated cognitive deficits. The average age of study participants was 38. See what happened when they were asked to copy a diagram. We are not prepared for this. #MedTwitter#LongCovidbrainfacts.org/diseases-and-d…
Many people are replying “I wouldn’t have been able to copy that drawing accurately even before #COVID19.” This is true. On avg, 5-8% of population are unable to reproduce this. What concerned researchers was that in this study of ppl w/ mild COVID, 25% of them could not.
There are less complex drawings that can look for more obvious visuoconstructive deficits. We often ask patients to draw a clock showing a specific time when screening for dementia. Here’s a published example of those drawings (unrelated to COVID). sistershospitallers.org/clock-drawing-…
Multiple people have also commented that I didn’t include the actual study. The link to the article in the first tweet of the 🧵 in fact contains a hyperlink to the study publication, available w/ no paywall, but here it is again: nature.com/articles/s4138…. #LongCovid#MedTwitter
Author notes findings are worrisome because “groups’s mean age was 38 & mostly highly ed profs such as physicians & nurses, as recruitment took place during the initial stage of the #pandemic.”
And it wasn’t the #COVID19 vax— it didn’t exist yet.
And finally, if you are #MedTwitter or someone else who requires more details than in this 🧵, please go to the article or the orig publication of the study linked earlier. If you need more info on the study that isn’t in there, contact the study authors (I’m not one of them).
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Because some are asking me to translate this, the very brief version is that massive inflammation & cell death occurred in heart, lungs, brain, & eyes of cats who drank unpasteurized milk from cows with #H5N1. In all, >50% of cats at that dairy farm died. #MedTwitter #BirdFlu
#H5N1 #birdflu is likewise very dangerous to us. More than 50% of the people who have tested positive for it globally in the last 20y have died. This is why #MedTwitter is watching closely. Finding increasing cases in humans & esp spreading btwn humans would set off alarms. 😷
NEW: Prosp study in 225 pts w/ “mild” #COVID19 & future surgery or other procedures. People w/ viral RNA detection in tissue or🩸5.2 times more likely to dev #longCOVID symptoms (OR 5.2, 95% CI 2.6–10.1, p<0·0001). Higher copy #, higher odds. #MedTwitter thelancet.com/journals/lanin…
Months after a positive #COVID19 test, viral RNA was found in 10 diff types of tissue, incl the liver, kidney, stomach, intestine, brain, blood vessel, lung, breast, skin, & thyroid + blood cells, which could explain the wide range of reported #longCovid symptoms. #MedTwitter /2
Growing evidence IMO that #COVID19 viral persistence contributes to many cases of #longCovid, though it’s prob not acting alone. Still learning how genetics, immune response, & reactivation of other viruses in us intersect, producing LC in some people & not others. #MedTwitter /3
I’ve received 4 major media requests in the 2h since #KateMiddleton announced her #cancer diagnosis. I have declined them all. She has not revealed what type or stage of cancer she has, & any dr, including oncologists such as myself, appearing on the news would be speculating. /1
I’ve been asked questions on live broadcasts before that we had agreed were off-limits. I know if I agreed here, I’d be asked to speculate on the type of cancer, type of treatment, how long it might last, what the side effects might be, what her prognosis is. I won’t do it. /2
I won’t do it not only because it’s unprofessional to talk about things you don’t know about—& unless you’re #KateMiddleton’s medical team or you’ve been told by her, you don’t know what you’re talking about—but also because doing so causes concrete harm. /3
Devastating study in NEJM. Prospective study of 257 patients having carotid artery surgery: micro/nanoplastics (MNP) in 58% of atheromas & those w/ MNP present had 4.5x ⬆️ risk of stroke, heart attack, & death at mean of 34 mos follow-up. #MedTwitter nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
Add this to the list of health concerns about micro/nanoplastics (MNP) in food. For example, this recent thread I wrote expressing concern about how we're seeing more young-onset colon cancer. Unfortunately MNP are already in soil, water, foods, etc. This is a big problem.
I hesitate to tweet concerning things without next steps since creating anxiety without an action plan I believe is harmful, but this is important info. In my 🏠 , we avoid cooking/reheating in plastic, replaced cutting boards, & are trying to avoid eating/drinking from plastics.
#MedTwitter, This is an important 🧵 from a bereaved husband’s perspective as a caregiver. I’ve been an oncologist for >20y; all of my patients by definition have a serious illness. So I hadn’t thought much about the power of affirming it. When the #COVID19 #pandemic began… 1/
& we all did more outpatient care via 📱, I had the good fortune of overhearing bits of how my husband (an infectious diseases dr) speaks to his patients. I don’t know them or their diagnoses of course, but I know it’s not all cancer, which everyone agrees is real & serious. /2
Infectious disease drs not only see people w/ things like HIV or hepatitis C, but also poorly understood complications of prior infections incl #MECFS & #LongCovid. I have lost count of the number of times I’ve overheard him say things like “what you’re experiencing is real.” /3
Sen @BernieSanders opens Senate HELP Committee mtg on #LongCovid stating that 16M in the US are currently living w/ #LongCOVID, a syndrome w/ brain fog, memory loss, language problems, fatigue, & more. “Long COVID can affect anyone…It poses a severe threat to #publichealth.”
A former endurance athlete Angela Vasquez shares her story of becoming severely disabled after an otherwise mild #COVID19 infection in 2020. She now requires 12 prescription meds. Notes that people w/ #longCovid may be too ill to navigate the disability system. #HELPLongCovid
@BillCassidy @SenSanders @SenateHELP @LCMoonshot Nicole Heim, describes her once healthy 16y old, a straight A honors student & marching band member, who developed #longCovid after a #COVID19 infection at age 14. She now has mult med issues incl cognitive impairment & is slowly working on a GED from home. #HELPLongCovid