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Updated: May 15, 2025
MRI Mapping of Cerebrovascular Reactivity via Gas Inhalation Challenges
Published on: December 17, 2014
Changes in cerebrovascular reactivity within functional networks in older adults with long-COVID
Jessica M Pommy1, Alexander Cohen2, Amarpreet Mahil2
1Division of Neuropsychology, Department of Neurology, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, United States.
Introduction:
Cognitive symptoms are reported in the vast majority of individuals with long-COVID and there is growing support to suggest neurovascular mechanisms may play a role. Older adults are at increased risk for developing complications associated with COVID-19, including heightened risk for cognitive decline. Cerebrovascular Reactivity (CVR), a marker of neurovascular health, has been linked to age related cognitive decline and may play a role in long-COVID, however, this has not yet been explored.
Methods:
The present study examined group differences in CVR in 31 older adults with long-COVID compared to 31 cognitively unimpaired older adults without long-COVID symptoms. Follow up analyses were conducted to examine how CVR was associated with both subjective cognitive symptoms and neuropsychological (NP) test performance. A subject-specific approach, Distribution-Corrected Z-scores (DisCo-Z), was used.
Results:
Analyses revealed the long-COVID group demonstrated significantly greater incidence of extreme CVR clusters within the brain (>100 voxels) and within functional networks thought to drive attention and executive function. Extreme positive CVR clusters were positively associated with greater number of subjective cognitive symptoms and negatively correlated with NP performance.
Discussion:
These findings are among the first to provide a link between cognitive functioning in long-COVID and neurovascular changes relevant for aging and mechanistic studies of long-COVID.
