Structural MRI correlates of cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms in Long COVID: a pilot study

Shantanu H. Joshi; Shantanu H. Joshi; Prabha Siddarth; Helen Lavretsky

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1412020

Frontiers in Psychiatry (Dec 2024)

Structural MRI correlates of cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms in Long COVID: a pilot study

Shantanu H. Joshi,
Shantanu H. Joshi,
Prabha Siddarth,
Helen Lavretsky

Affiliations

Shantanu H. Joshi: Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Shantanu H. Joshi: Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Prabha Siddarth: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Helen Lavretsky: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1412020
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 15

Abstract

Read online

Approximately 7% of COVID-19 patients (1.3% children) have exhibited symptoms of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), or Long COVID, and 20% of those present with neuropsychiatric symptoms. While a large number of MRI-based neuroimaging studies in this population have shown cortical atrophy in terms of gray matter volume and cortical thickness in patients, there is a growing body of work showing brain volume enlargements or thickness increases in patients compared to COVID negative controls. To investigate this further, we used structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine differences in gray matter thickness for the cortical limbic and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortical regions between patients with Long COVID and healthy controls. Results showed increased cortical thickness in the caudal anterior, isthmus, and the posterior cingulate gyrus as well as the rostral middle frontal gyrus respectively along with higher gray matter volume in the posterior cingulate and the isthmus cingulate in patients with Long COVID. Cortical thickness and gray matter volumes for regions of interest (ROIs) were also associated with the severity measures, clinical dementia rating, and anxiety scores in the Long COVID group. Our findings provide supporting evidence for cortical hypertrophy in Long COVID.

Published in Frontiers in Psychiatry

ISSN: 1664-0640 (Online)
Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A.
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Medicine: Internal medicine: Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry: Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system: Psychiatry
Website: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords