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There are striking parallels between the two syndromes – and scientists hope the link could help to unravel the mysteries of both.
Midway through 2023, the neurologist Ioannis Mavroudis was working his way through the latest backlog of cases when he was struck by a revelation.
As a concussion specialist who had spent many years in his post at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Mavroudis had found himself dealing with a growing influx of patients with Long Covid – a loose assortment of health problems developed after an infection with Covid-19.
Many of these patients were presenting with a range of neurological symptoms. Mavroudis could not help but notice that their symptom patterns – fatigue, sleep disturbances, light and noise sensitivity, exercise intolerance and problems with memory and concentration – were strikingly similar to those associated with another mysterious long-term condition known as post-concussion syndrome or ‘Long Concussion’.
Instead of being triggered by a viral infection, post-concussion syndrome can affect anyone who has suffered some form of a knock to the head, leaving them with symptoms lasting for months or years. The initial impact can range from extremely mild to severe, and it can affect both professional and amateur athletes, military veterans, victims of physical abuse and epileptic patients who have fallen during a seizure.
“I work with athletes, and I’ve seen many professional rugby players with this,” says Mavroudis. “Like Long Covid, some end up suffering with it for many years.”
Mavroudis believes that post-concussion syndrome is related to the energy demand on the brain’s neurons as a result of the head trauma, something which has been discussed in research papers. “Early in the concussion, the neurons need so much energy, more than the brain can provide, which causes the fatigue, and then they get locked in this vicious cycle,” he says.
Mavroudis was so intrigued by the overlap that he cited it in a scientific review of post-concussion syndrome, published in May 2023. But he wasn’t the first to note it. Half a year earlier, a group of concussion experts at the University of Denver, Colorado, had also published their findings on the seemingly unlikely parallels between the two conditions.