tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Neurobiol Stress
. 2021 Apr 13;100326.
doi: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2021.100326. Online ahead of print.
Alterations of frontal-temporal gray matter volume associate with clinical measures of older adults with COVID-19
Kuaikuai Duan[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Enrico Premi[SUP] 3 4 [/SUP], Andrea Pilotto[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Viviana Cristillo[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Alberto Benussi[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Ilenia Libri[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Marcello Giunta[SUP] 4 [/SUP], H Jeremy Bockholt[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Jingyu Liu[SUP] 2 5 [/SUP], Riccardo Campora[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Alessandro Pezzini[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Roberto Gasparotti[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Mauro Magoni[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Alessandro Padovani[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Vince Calhoun[SUP] 1 2 5 7 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a global pandemic. It dramatically affects people's health and daily life. Neurological complications are increasingly documented for patients with COVID-19. However, the effect of COVID-19 on the brain is less studied, and existing quantitative neuroimaging analyses of COVID-19 were mainly based on the univariate voxel-based morphometry analysis (VBM) that requires corrections for a large number of tests for statistical significance, multivariate approaches that can reduce the number of tests to be corrected have not been applied to study COVID-19 effect on the brain yet. In this study, we leveraged source-based morphometry (SBM) analysis, a multivariate extension of VBM, to identify changes derived from computed tomography scans in covarying gray matter volume patterns underlying COVID-19 in 120 neurological patients (including 58 cases with COVID-19 and 62 patients without COVID-19 matched for age, gender and diseases). SBM identified that lower gray matter volume (GMV) in superior/medial/middle frontal gyri was significantly associated with a higher level of disability (modified Rankin Scale) at both discharge and six months follow-up phases even when controlling for cerebrovascular diseases. GMV in superior/medial/middle frontal gyri was also significantly reduced in patients receiving oxygen therapy compared to patients not receiving oxygen therapy. Patients with fever presented significant GMV reduction in inferior/middle temporal gyri and fusiform gyrus compared to patients without fever. Patients with agitation showed GMV reduction in superior/medial/middle frontal gyri compared to patients without agitation. Patients with COVID-19 showed no significant GMV differences from patients without COVID-19 in any brain region. Results suggest that COVID-19 may affect the frontal-temporal network in a secondary manner through fever or lack of oxygen.
Keywords: COVID-19; Computed tomography; Frontal-temporal network; Gray matter volume; Source-based morphometry.
. 2021 Apr 13;100326.
doi: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2021.100326. Online ahead of print.
Alterations of frontal-temporal gray matter volume associate with clinical measures of older adults with COVID-19
Kuaikuai Duan[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Enrico Premi[SUP] 3 4 [/SUP], Andrea Pilotto[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Viviana Cristillo[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Alberto Benussi[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Ilenia Libri[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Marcello Giunta[SUP] 4 [/SUP], H Jeremy Bockholt[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Jingyu Liu[SUP] 2 5 [/SUP], Riccardo Campora[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Alessandro Pezzini[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Roberto Gasparotti[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Mauro Magoni[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Alessandro Padovani[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Vince Calhoun[SUP] 1 2 5 7 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33869679
- PMCID: PMC8041745
- DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2021.100326
Abstract
COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a global pandemic. It dramatically affects people's health and daily life. Neurological complications are increasingly documented for patients with COVID-19. However, the effect of COVID-19 on the brain is less studied, and existing quantitative neuroimaging analyses of COVID-19 were mainly based on the univariate voxel-based morphometry analysis (VBM) that requires corrections for a large number of tests for statistical significance, multivariate approaches that can reduce the number of tests to be corrected have not been applied to study COVID-19 effect on the brain yet. In this study, we leveraged source-based morphometry (SBM) analysis, a multivariate extension of VBM, to identify changes derived from computed tomography scans in covarying gray matter volume patterns underlying COVID-19 in 120 neurological patients (including 58 cases with COVID-19 and 62 patients without COVID-19 matched for age, gender and diseases). SBM identified that lower gray matter volume (GMV) in superior/medial/middle frontal gyri was significantly associated with a higher level of disability (modified Rankin Scale) at both discharge and six months follow-up phases even when controlling for cerebrovascular diseases. GMV in superior/medial/middle frontal gyri was also significantly reduced in patients receiving oxygen therapy compared to patients not receiving oxygen therapy. Patients with fever presented significant GMV reduction in inferior/middle temporal gyri and fusiform gyrus compared to patients without fever. Patients with agitation showed GMV reduction in superior/medial/middle frontal gyri compared to patients without agitation. Patients with COVID-19 showed no significant GMV differences from patients without COVID-19 in any brain region. Results suggest that COVID-19 may affect the frontal-temporal network in a secondary manner through fever or lack of oxygen.
Keywords: COVID-19; Computed tomography; Frontal-temporal network; Gray matter volume; Source-based morphometry.