Functional and microstructural brain abnormalities, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction after mild COVID-19

Although post-acute cognitive dysfunction and neuroimaging abnormalities have been reported after hospital discharge in patients recovered from COVID-19, little is known about persistent, long-term alterations in patients who did not require hospitalization. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 87 consecutive, non-hospitalized recovered individuals, with a median of 54 days after the laboratory confirmation of COVID-19. We performed structured interviews, neurological examination, and 3T-MRI scans. The MRI study included white matter investigation with diffusion tensor images (DTI) and seed-based resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) connectivity analyses of the default mode network (DMN). In addition, we used validated instruments to examine fatigue, symptoms of anxiety and depression, somnolence, language, memory, and cognitive flexibility.

Individuals self-reported a high frequency of headaches (40%) and memory difficulties (33%). The quantitative analyses confirmed symptoms of fatigue (68% of participants), excessive somnolence (35%), symptoms of anxiety (29%), impaired cognitive flexibility (40%) and language dysfunction (33%). In addition, we observed a correlation between DTI fractional anisotropy (FA) and abnormal attention and cognitive flexibility measured by the Trail Making Test part B. The resting-state fMRI study of the DMN showed an association between higher connectivity of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and higher levels of fatigue and somnolence. While greater connectivity of the PCC with bilateral angular gyri was associated with higher fatigue levels, the elevated levels of somnolence correlated with higher connectivity between the PCC and both the left thalamus and putamen.