Long COVID linked to Alzheimer’s disease mechanisms, finds research
Written By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli
Published On 2026-02-18 15:45 GMT | Update On 2026-02-18 15:45 GMT
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The increased size of, and lesser blood supply to, a key brain structure in patients with Long COVID tracks with known blood markers of Alzheimer’s disease and greater levels of dementia, a new study finds.
Led by NYU Langone Health researchers, the study concerns the choroid plexus (CP), a network of blood vessels lined by cells that produce cerebrospinal fluid, which cushions the brain and forms a protective barrier between the fluid and the bloodstream. The CP regulates immune system responses (inflammation) and waste clearance in the brain. Past studies show that the COVID-19 virus can damage the cells lining CP blood vessels.
Published online Feb. 10 in Alzheimer's & Dementia, the new work found that patients reporting Long COVID had a 10% larger CP than those who had fully recovered from an initial infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. Further, CP size increases tracked with blood levels of proteins that increase as Alzheimer’s disease worsens, such as pTau217, and with blood levels of others that rise in response to brain injury, like glial fibrillary acidic protein.
The research team also found that patients with larger CPs performed an average of 2% worse on a standard 30-point screening test, the Mini-Mental State Exam, which records changes in memory and attention.
“Our work suggests that long-term immune reactions caused in some cases after an initial COVID infection may come with swelling that damages a critical brain barrier in the choroid plexus,” said senior study author Yulin Ge, MD, a professor in the Department of Radiology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “Physical, molecular, and clinical evidence suggests that a larger CP may be an early warning sign of future Alzheimer’s-like cognitive decline.”
Long COVID is a condition in which symptoms of infection with the pandemic virus last for months or even years after the initial infection. About 780 million people worldwide have been infected so far, with some of those experiencing long-term fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, loss of smell or taste, depression, and many other symptoms.
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