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Abnormal brain diffusivity in participants with persistent neuropsychiatric symptoms after COVID-19

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to compare brain white matter integrity in participants with post-COVID-19 conditions (PCC) and healthy controls. METHODS: We compared cognitive performance (NIH Toolbox(®)), psychiatric symptoms and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics between 23 PCC participants and 24 contr...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Liang, Huajun, Ernst, Thomas, Oishi, Kenichi, Ryan, Meghann C., Herskovits, Edward, Cunningham, Eric, Wilson, Eleanor, Kottilil, Shyamasundaran, Chang, Linda
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: De Gruyter 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10091517/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37067870
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/nipt-2022-0016
Descripción
Sumario:OBJECTIVES: We aimed to compare brain white matter integrity in participants with post-COVID-19 conditions (PCC) and healthy controls. METHODS: We compared cognitive performance (NIH Toolbox(®)), psychiatric symptoms and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics between 23 PCC participants and 24 controls. Fractional anisotropy (FA), axial (AD), radial (RD), and mean (MD) diffusivities were measured in 9 white matter tracts and 6 subcortical regions using MRICloud. RESULTS: Compared to controls, PCC had similar cognitive performance, but greater psychiatric symptoms and perceived stress, as well as higher FA and lower diffusivities in multiple white matter tracts (ANCOVA-p-values≤0.001–0.048). Amongst women, PCC had higher left amygdala-MD than controls (sex-by-PCC p=0.006). Regardless of COVID-19 history, higher sagittal strata-FA predicted greater fatigue (r=0.48-0.52, p<0.001) in all participants, and higher left amygdala-MD predicted greater fatigue (r=0.61, p<0.001) and anxiety (r=0.69, p<0.001) in women, and higher perceived stress (r=0.45, p=0.002) for all participants. CONCLUSIONS: Microstructural abnormalities are evident in PCC participants averaged six months after COVID-19. The restricted diffusivity (with reduced MD) and higher FA suggest enhanced myelination or increased magnetic susceptibility from iron deposition, as seen in stress conditions. The higher amygdala-MD in female PCC suggests persistent neuroinflammation, which might contribute to their fatigue, anxiety, and perceived stress.