Langes COVID-Gehirnnebel ist in den USA weitaus häufiger als in Indien und anderen Ländern. Große Studie in den USA, Kolumbien, Nigeria und Indien kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Symptomlast in Ländern mit hohem Einkommen am höchsten ist. Eine höhere Symptomlast in den USA könnte eher auf eine geringere Stigmatisierung und einen besseren Zugang zur Gesundheitsversorgung als auf eine schwerere Erkrankung zurückzuführen sein.
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2026/01/long-covid-brain-fog-far-more-common-in-us-than-india-other-nations
18 Kommentare
**Long COVID brain fog far more common in US than India, other nations**
**Large study of patients in U.S., Colombia, Nigeria and India finds symptom burden highest in high-income countries**
Patients with long COVID-19 in the U.S. report far higher rates of brain fog, depression and cognitive symptoms than patients in countries such as India and Nigeria, according to a large international study led by Northwestern Medicine.
The authors note that **higher reported symptom burden in the U.S. may reflect lower stigma and greater access to neurological and mental health care, rather than more severe disease**.
The study, the first cross-continental comparison of long COVID neurological manifestations, tracked more than 3,100 adults with long COVID evaluated at academic medical centers in Chicago; Medellín, Colombia; Lagos, Nigeria; and Jaipur, India.
Among patients who were not hospitalized during their COVID infections (the majority in the study), 86% in the U.S. reported brain fog, compared with only 63% in Nigeria, 62% in Colombia and 15% in India. Rates of psychological distress showed a similar pattern: Nearly 75% of non-hospitalized patients in the U.S. reported symptoms of depression or anxiety, compared with only 40% in Colombia and fewer than 20% in Nigeria and India.
For those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1760173/full
Probably more common in the united states as roughly 77 million have permanent brain fog and very limited brain activity at all
Is it that richer countries healthcare systems is better at reporting the cases and people able to seek care to begin with?
Is it demographics? Covid hits older people harder x
I mean, has this been normalized to median age as well? I can see that it is around 39 Vs 28 years. Of course covid will, and we have seen it many times, hit older patients significantly harder than young patients.
india has greater access to healthcare .its that most people have other things to worry about.
Could it be something related to obesity or perhaps vitamin D deficiency in countries with colder weather?
So what you’re saying is that it was and still is a genetically targeted bioweapon designed to cripple „high-income“ countries
I don’t recall who did the study but I remember someone looking into why long COVID seemed to be over represented amongst wealthy, white patients in the UK. Their conclusion was that it wasn’t, but at the time wealthy, white patients were more likely to persevere with the system to get a diagnosis. I don’t remember if the study also found they were more likely to be believed about their symptoms too.
Maybe it has a correlation with the number of boosters received
Is this a real thing or are people just doing typical things that causes brain fog (poor diet, lack of exercise, excessive smart phone use, poor sleep etc) and blames it on covid?
maybe more to do with sun exposure and vitamin d
This is true for many conditions.
I have it three times, and so far, no brain…….er…..ah………I’m sorry, was I saying something?
There’s also a lot more acceptance of mental health conditions. In the countries you mentioned, mental health conditions is basically lazy.
Actual question here and not trying to discredit anything: how do you isolate the *cause* of the reported brain fog symptoms? As in, when a few billion people are infected with covid over several years time, how do you determine if these reported brain fog instances actually have anything to do with the virus itself in this small percentage of people when the vas majority of previously infected do not have these symptoms? and when brain fog symptoms are subjectively reported from patients, and not something that is objectively measurable with before and after testing like for example blood pressure that has specific units and measured values?
hypochondriacs with too much money.
Higher BMI is a known risk factor with Covid as well as low Vitamin D status.
Those are probably better explanations.