Observational study reveals altered functional brain connectivity and cognitive decline in acute COVID-19 patients, indicating neuroinflammation-linked neural disruption.
Key Points
To evaluate the relationship between resting-state whole-brain functional connectivity, cognitive impairment, and inflammatory markers in acute COVID-19 patients compared to healthy controls.
Assessed 29 acute COVID-19 patients on the third day of hospital admission and 20 healthy controls.
Acquired resting-state fMRI data across 23 independent components and evaluated cognitive function using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) alongside inflammatory biomarkers (ESR, CRP).
COVID-19 patients exhibited lower mean MoCA scores and significantly reduced functional connectivity in regions IC14 (P < 0.001) and IC38 (P < 0.001) compared to controls.
COVID-19 patients demonstrated significantly increased functional connectivity in the default mode network IC00 (P < 0.001) and dorsal attention network IC08 (P < 0.001).
Functional connectivity alterations in these components significantly correlated with lower MoCA scores and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein levels.