AI Article Synopsis
- Researchers investigated how "brain fog" in post-COVID patients, characterized by cognitive issues and fatigue, relates to abnormal brain activity measured by resting-state EEG (rsEEG).
- The study included post-COVID participants one year after their infection, many of whom reported fatigue symptoms but did not show cognitive or psychiatric disorders, contrasting them with matched controls who had not experienced COVID.
- Findings revealed that over 90% of post-COVID participants had no cognitive issues, yet exhibited lower rsEEG alpha activity, particularly among those with more severe fatigue, suggesting a link between abnormal brain rhythms, fatigue, and overall vigilance dysfunction in these individuals.
Article Abstract
Objectives: Several persons experiencing post-covid-19 (post-COVID) with "brain fog" (e.g., fatigue, cognitive and psychiatric disorders, etc.) show abnormal resting-state electroencephalographic (rsEEG) rhythms reflecting a vigilance dysfunction. Here, we tested the hypothesis that in those post-COVID persons, abnormal rsEEG rhythms may occur even when cognitive and psychiatric disorders are absent.
Methods: The experiments were performed on post-COVID participants about one year after hospitalization for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Inclusion criteria included a "brain fog" claim, no pre-infection, and actual organic chronic disease. Matched controls (no COVID) were also enrolled. All participants underwent clinical/neuropsychological assessment (including fatigue assessment) and rsEEG recordings. The eLORETA freeware estimated regional rsEEG cortical sources at individual delta (<4 Hz), theta (4-7 Hz), and alpha (8-13 Hz) bands. Beta (14-30 Hz) and gamma (30-40 Hz) bands were pre-fixed.
Results: More than 90% of all post-COVID participants showed no cognitive or psychiatric disorders, and 75% showed ≥ 2 fatigue symptoms. The post-COVID group globally presented lower posterior rsEEG alpha source activities than the Control group. This effect was more significant in the long COVID-19 patients with ≥ 2 fatigue symptoms.
Conclusions: In post-COVID patients with no chronic diseases and cognitive/psychiatric disorders, "brain fog" can be associated with abnormal posterior rsEEG alpha rhythms and subjective fatigue.
Significance: These abnormalities may be related to vigilance and allostatic dysfunctions.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2024.02.034 | DOI Listing |
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