PSMD revealed whole brain white matter injury was associated with cognitive impairment in COVID-19 patients with sequelae

Motivation: Many recovered COVID-19 individuals presented with clinical symptoms. The underlying neurological mechanism remains unclear. Goal(s): Investigating the feasibility of detecting white matter injury in COVID-19 patients using peak width of skeletonized mean diffusivity (PSMD). Approach: 91 recovered COVID-19 participants and 60 healthy controls were included. Whole brain white matter integrity was assessed using PSMD and other diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) derived parameters. Results: Recovered COVID-19 participants had significantly higher PSMD value than healthy controls. Although significant differences were also observed in other DTI derived parameters between them, only PSMD was significantly associated with cognitive impairment in COVID-19 patients with sequelae. Impact: For the first time, our study showed whole brain white matter injury was associated with cognitive impairment in COVID-19 patients with sequelae, suggesting the repairment of white matter should be taken into considering for further treatment.