英国剑桥大学的科学家评估了新冠病毒感染可能对人类认知能力造成的损害。研究结果显示，患者认知能力丧失的程度相当于“衰老20年”。这项研究的结果发表在《临床医学》杂志上，研究人员在对阿登布鲁克医院接受住院治疗的46名新冠肺炎患者进行研究后得出了相关数据。

In a study comparing 46 severe COVID-19 patients with 460 matched controls, researchers found the mental impacts of severe COVID-19 six months later can be the equivalent to aging 20 years – going from 50 to 70 years old – or losing 10 IQ points.

在一项将46名新冠肺炎重症患者与460人的匹配对照组进行比较的研究中，研究人员发现，这些患者在感染新冠病毒6个月后受到的认知影响相当于衰老20年（从50岁到70岁），或智商降低10个点。

The specific mental changes were also distinct to those seen in early dementia or general aging.

这种特殊的认知变化与早期痴呆症或常规衰老明显不同。

"Cognitive impairment is common to a wide range of neurological disorders, including dementia, and even routine aging, but the patterns we saw – the cognitive 'fingerprint' of COVID-19 – was distinct from all of these," says neuroscientist David Menon from the University of Cambridge in the UK, who was senior author of the study.

英国剑桥大学的神经科学家大卫·梅农是该研究论文的资深作者，他称：“神经系统疾病都会导致认知能力下降，包括痴呆，甚至是常规衰老也会如此，但我们看到的新冠病毒对认知能力的影响与所有这些有所不同。”

The experiment involved 46 people who'd gone to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge as a result of COVID-19 between March and July 2020. Sixteen of them were put on mechanical ventilation during their stay.

这项实验涉及46名在2020年3月至7月期间在剑桥阿登布鲁克医院接受治疗的新冠肺炎患者。其中16人在住院期间使用了呼吸机。

An average of six months after their infection, researchers supervised them using a testing tool called Cognitron to see how they were doing in areas such as memory, attention, reasoning, as well as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

感染后平均六个月，研究人员使用测试工具Cognitron对他们进行监测，了解他们在记忆力、注意力、推理、焦虑、抑郁和创伤后应激障碍等方面的表现。

The researchers didn't have test results from before these individuals fell ill with COVID to compare to. Instead they did the next best thing, and compared their results against a matched control group of 460 people.

研究人员没有这些患者在感染新冠之前的检测结果可比较，于是退而求其次，将他们的检测结果与460人的匹配对照组进行比较。

These results were then mapped to see how far they deviated from expected scores for their age and demographic, based on 66,008 members of the general public.

然后，根据66008名普通大众的情况，对这些结果进行测绘，看他们与自己所在年龄段的预期分数有多大偏差。

The results showed that those who'd survived severe COVID were less accurate and had slower response times than the general public.

结果显示，与普通人相比，这些患者的检测结果准确率更低，反应时间也更慢。

The magnitude of cognitive loss was similar to the effects of aging between 50 and 70 years of age – and equivalent to losing 10 IQ points.

他们的认知能力丧失程度与从50岁到70岁的认知能力丧失程度相似，也相当于失去10个智商点。

The somewhat good news is that, upon follow up, there were some signs of recovery – but it was gradual at best.

好消息是，在后续的跟踪调查中，这些患者的认知能力有一些恢复的迹象，但最好的情况也只是逐步的。

"We followed some patients up as late as ten months after their acute infection, so were able to see a very slow improvement," says Menon.

梅农称:“我们对一些感染新冠病毒后十个月的患者进行了随访，能够看到他们的认知能力有非常缓慢的改善。”

"While this was not statistically significant, it is at least heading in the right direction, but it is very possible that some of these individuals will never fully recover."

“虽然这在统计上并不显著，但至少正朝着正确的方向发展。不过，其中一些人很可能永远无法完全恢复。”

This study only looked at the more extreme end of hospitalized patients, but there are plenty of other studies showing that even 'mild' cases can cause similar cognitive impacts.

这项研究只研究了住院患者这种极端情况，但还有大量其他研究表明，即使是“轻微”病症也会造成类似的认知影响。

What's still not fully understood is why and how the SARS-CoV-2 virus causes this cognitive decline.

目前尚不完全清楚新冠病毒为何以及如何导致认知能力下降。

Previous research has shown that during severe COVID, the brain decreases glucose consumption in the frontoparietal network, which is involved in attention, problem solving, and working memory. It's also known that the virus can directly affect the brain.

此前的研究表明，新冠肺炎症状严重时，大脑会减少额顶叶的葡萄糖消耗，额顶叶负责注意力、问题解决和工作记忆等功能。众所周知，新冠病毒会直接影响大脑。

But the researchers suggest the likely culprit isn't direct infection, but a combination of factors: including reduced oxygen or blood supply to the brain; clotting of vessels; and microscopic bleeds.

但研究人员认为，罪魁祸首可能不是感染病毒本身，而是多种因素的综合作用：包括大脑供氧或血液供应减少、静脉血栓以及轻微出血。

There's also mounting evidence that the body's own immune and inflammatory response may be having a significant impact on the brain.

还有越来越多的证据表明，人体自身的免疫和炎症反应可能对大脑产生严重影响。

The research has been published in eClinical Medicine.

这项研究发表在《临床医学》上。