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Cerebral microstructural alterations in Post-COVID-condition are related to cognitive impairment, olfactory dysfunction, and fatigue

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Mar 15, 2024 version files 1.60 MB

Abstract

After contracting COVID-19, a substantial number of individuals develop a Post-COVID-Condition (PCC), marked by neurologic symptoms such as cognitive deficits, olfactory dysfunction, and fatigue, which can have detrimental socioeconomic consequences. Despite this, biomarkers and pathophysiological understandings of this condition remain limited. Employing magnetic resonance imaging, we conduct a comparative analysis of cerebral microstructure among patients with post-COVID condition, healthy controls, and individuals who contracted COVID-19 without long-term symptoms. This reveals widespread alterations in cerebral microstructure, attributed to a shift in volume from neuronal compartments to free fluid, associated with the severity of the initial infection. Correlating these alterations with cognition, olfaction, and fatigue unveils distinct affected networks, which are in a close anatomical-functional relationship with the respective symptoms. This plausibility of symptom-specific networks not only provides insights into the disease's pathophysiological foundations, which align well with an accelerated aging process but also underscores the significance of microstructure as an imaging biomarker.