PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Dacosta-Aguayo, Rosalia
AU  - Puig, Josep
AU  - Lamonja-Vicente, Noemi
AU  - Carmona-Cervelló, Meritxell
AU  - León-Gómez, Brenda Biaani
AU  - Monté-Rubio, Gemma
AU  - López-Linfante, Victor M.
AU  - Zamora-Putin, Valeria
AU  - Montero-Alia, Pilar
AU  - Chacon, Carla
AU  - Bielsa, Jofre
AU  - Moreno-Gabriel, Eduard
AU  - Garcia-Sierra, Rosa
AU  - Pachón, Alba
AU  - Costa, Anna
AU  - Mataró, Maria
AU  - Prado, Julia G.
AU  - Martinez-Cáceres, Eva
AU  - Mateu, Lourdes
AU  - Massanella, Marta
AU  - Violán, Concepción
AU  - Torán-Monserrat, Pere
AU - for the Aliança ProHEpiC-19 Cognitiu (The APC Collaborative Group)
TI  - Reduced Cortical Thickness Correlates of Cognitive Dysfunction in Post-COVID-19 Condition: Insights from a Long-Term Follow-up
AID  - 10.3174/ajnr.A8167
DP  - 2024 May 01
TA  - American Journal of Neuroradiology
PG  - 647--654
VI  - 45
IP  - 5
4099  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/45/5/647.short
4100  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/45/5/647.full
SO  - Am. J. Neuroradiol.2024 May 01; 45
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There is a paucity of data on long-term neuroimaging findings from individuals who have developed the post-coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) condition. Only 2 studies have investigated the correlations between cognitive assessment results and structural MR imaging in this population. This study aimed to elucidate the long-term cognitive outcomes of participants with the post-COVID-19 condition and to correlate these cognitive findings with structural MR imaging data in the post-COVID-19 condition.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cohort of 53 participants with the post-COVID-19 condition underwent 3T brain MR imaging with T1 and FLAIR sequences obtained a median of 1.8 years after Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was used to assess several cognitive domains in the same individuals. Correlations between cognitive domains and whole-brain voxel-based morphometry were performed. Different ROIs from FreeSurfer were used to perform the same correlations with other neuroimaging features.RESULTS: According to the Frascati criteria, more than one-half of the participants had deficits in the attentional (55%, n = 29) and executive (59%, n = 31) domains, while 40% (n = 21) had impairment in the memory domain. Only 1 participant (1.89%) showed problems in the visuospatial and visuoconstructive domains. We observed that reduced cortical thickness in the left parahippocampal region (t(48) = 2.28, P = .03) and the right caudal-middle-frontal region (t(48) = 2.20, P = .03) was positively correlated with the memory domain.CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that cognitive impairment in individuals with the post-COVID-19 condition is associated with long-term alterations in the structure of the brain. These macrostructural changes may provide insight into the nature of cognitive symptoms.BMIbody mass indexCOVID-19coronavirus disease 2019PCCpost-COVID-19 conditionreproaReproducibility AnalysisSARS-CoV-2Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2WAISWechsler Adult Intelligence ScaleWHOWorld Health Organization