Altered functional brain connectivity, efficiency, and information flow associated with brain fog after mild to moderate COVID-19 infection

COVID-19 is associated with increased risk for cognitive decline but very little is known regarding the neural mechanisms of this risk. We enrolled 49 adults (55% female, mean age = 30.7 ± 8.7), 25 with and 24 without a history of COVID-19 infection. We administered standardized tests of cognitive f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 22094 - 12
Main Authors: Kesler, Shelli R., Franco-Rocha, Oscar Y., De La Torre Schutz, Alexa, Lewis, Kimberly A., Aziz, Rija M., Henneghan, Ashley M., Melamed, Esther, Brode, W. Michael
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 27.09.2024
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects:
631/378/2649
692/617/375
Adult
Brain
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Brain - physiopathology
Brain network
Cognition
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive ability
Cognitive Dysfunction - diagnostic imaging
Cognitive Dysfunction - etiology
Cognitive Dysfunction - physiopathology
Connectome
COVID-19
COVID-19 - complications
COVID-19 - diagnostic imaging
COVID-19 - physiopathology
Efficiency
Executive function
Female
Fog
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Information processing
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
multidisciplinary
Neural networks
SARS-CoV-2 - isolation & purification
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Young Adult
COVID-19
Executive function
Cognition
Connectome
Brain network
ISSN:2045-2322, 2045-2322
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:COVID-19 is associated with increased risk for cognitive decline but very little is known regarding the neural mechanisms of this risk. We enrolled 49 adults (55% female, mean age = 30.7 ± 8.7), 25 with and 24 without a history of COVID-19 infection. We administered standardized tests of cognitive function and acquired brain connectivity data using MRI. The COVID-19 group demonstrated significantly lower cognitive function (W = 475, p < 0.001, effect size r = 0.58) and lower functional connectivity in multiple brain regions (mean t = 3.47 ±0.36, p = 0.03, corrected, effect size d = 0.92 to 1.5). Hypo-connectivity of these regions was inversely correlated with subjective cognitive function and directly correlated with fatigue (p < 0.05, corrected). These regions demonstrated significantly reduced local efficiency (p < 0.026, corrected) and altered effective connectivity (p < 0.001, corrected). COVID-19 may have a widespread effect on the functional connectome characterized by lower functional connectivity and altered patterns of information processing efficiency and effective information flow. This may serve as an adaptation to the pathology of SARS-CoV-2 wherein the brain can continue functioning at near expected objective levels, but patients experience lowered efficiency as brain fog.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-73311-0