Mild to moderate COVID causes inflammation of white matter in brain ten months later Brain Inflammation Coronavirus Disease COVID Neurology Neuroscience medrxivpreprint UKEHamburg
Study: Brain imaging and neuropsychological assessment of individuals recovered from mild to moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection. Image Credit: Shyntartanya / Shutterstock
On the whole, there is a requirement for additional research in light of the current evidence's limited applicability to individuals with a mild to moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection. The team followed a retrospective, cross-sectional, case-control design and included 223 non-vaccinated individuals with a SARS-CoV-2-positive polymerase chain reaction test obtained between March 1 and December 31, 2020, and received neuropsychological and MRI evaluations within the template of the Hamburg City Health Study with an average 9.7 months upon testing.
Of the 11 MR imaging indicators assessed, substantial variations between cohorts were observed in global measurements of extracellular free-water and mean diffusivity , both of which were higher in the white matter of SARS-CoV-2 recovered people relative to matched controls. The observed rise in MD and free water may be a subliminal indicator of a protracted neuroinflammatory response to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Classification accuracy for identifying post-COVID-19 patients according to diffusion imaging markers, including white matter diffusion indices, was about 80%. Given that fiber cross-section accuracy was more accurate than cortical thickness, it was possible that COVID-19-related changes preferentially affect the white matter. Besides, neuropsychological test results did not drastically vary between the groups.