Turku Study Finds No Brain Inflammation in Long COVID
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- University of Turku researchers performed PET and MRI scans on 14 long COVID patients, 11 healthy controls, and 13 multiple sclerosis patients to assess neuroinflammation.
- Long COVID patients showed no widespread brain inflammation relative to healthy volunteers, despite prior hypotheses linking inflammation to lingering symptoms.
- Long COVID patients exhibited heightened brain activity in mood‑related regions, which correlated with more severe symptom reports.
- Inflammatory signals were higher in participants scanned within 16 months of infection than in those scanned later, suggesting inflammation may fade over time.
- Multiple sclerosis patients exhibited markedly higher white‑matter inflammation than long COVID patients, underscoring the modest inflammatory profile of long COVID.
Why it matters: The 14‑patient study gives long‑COVID sufferers clearer therapeutic direction as anti‑inflammatory drugs lose credibility, while biotech firms betting on inflammation‑targeted therapies face reduced demand; clinicians may shift to neuromodulation or mental‑health interventions.
