COVID-19 related cognitive, structural and functional brain changes among Italian adolescents and young adults: a multimodal longitudinal case-control study
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with brain functional, structural, and cognitive changes that persist months after infection. Most studies of the neurologic outcomes related to COVID-19 focus on severe infection and aging populations. Here, we investigated the neural activities underlying COVID-19 related outcomes in a case-control study of mildly infected youth enrolled in a longitudinal study in Lombardy, Italy, a global hotspot of COVID-19. All participants (13 cases, 27 controls, mean age 24 years) completed resting-state functional (fMRI), structural MRI, cognitive assessments (CANTAB spatial working memory) at baseline (pre-COVID) and follow-up (post-COVID). Using graph theory eigenvector centrality (EC) and data-driven statistical methods, we examined differences in EC<sub>delta</sub> (i.e., the difference in EC values pre- and post-COVID-19) and Volumetric<sub>delta</sub> (i.e., the difference in cortical volume of cortical and subcortical areas pre- and post-COVID) between COVID-19 cases and controls. We found that EC<sub>delta</sub> significantly between COVID-19 and healthy participants in five brain regions; right intracalcarine cortex, right lingual gyrus, left hippocampus, left amygdala, left frontal orbital cortex. The left hippocampus showed a significant decrease in Volumetric<sub>delta</sub> between groups (p = 0.041). The reduced EC<sub>delta</sub> in the left amygdala associated with COVID-19 status mediated the association between COVID-19 and disrupted spatial working memory. Our results show persistent structural, functional and cognitive brain changes in key brain areas associated with olfaction and cognition. These results may guide treatment efforts to assess the longevity, reversibility and impact of the observed brain and cognitive changes following COVID-19.
Authors
- Lorella Mascaro
- Cheuk Y. Tang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9828-0092)
- Alessandra Patrono (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9744-8896)
- Robert O. Wright (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1180-6459)
- Christoph van Thriel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3215-9262)
- Roberto Gasparotti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2591-2415)
- Megan K. Horton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8139-5918)
- Daniele Corbo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5078-6636)
- Stefano Renzetti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4467-765X)
- Elza Rechtman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5034-6048)
- Claudia Ambrosi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6943-0557)
- Roberto G. Lucchini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9723-0237)
- Azzurra Invernizzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7411-8552)
- Abraham Reichenberg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2729-8575)
- Donatella Placidi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1606-5397)
- Giuseppa Cagna
Institutions
- Florida International University (US)
- TU Dortmund University (DE)
- Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale degli Spedali Civili di Brescia (IT)
- Istituti Ospitalieri di Cremona (IT)
- Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (DE)
- Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale di Cremona
- University of Brescia (IT)
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Translational Psychiatry
- Published
- 2024-10-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-024-03108-2
- Citations
- 13
- Primary Topic
- Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.80
Funders
- Mount Sinai Health System
- European Commission
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences