Brain structural and functional damage network localization of COVID-19 survivors

Neuroimaging studies exploring structural and functional brain changes of COVID-19 survivors have yielded regionally inconsistent findings. Although there is an increasing agreement that diseases are more accurately mapped to distributed neural network than to discrete brain areas, research examining network-level localization of structural and functional deficits in COVID-19 survivors remains limited.

To bridge this gap, we first pinpointed sites of structural and functional impairment in COVID-19 survivors, drawing on 19 studies comprising 23 contrasts across a cohort of 703 survivors and 596 healthy controls. Using connectivity-based mapping, we projected these identified regions onto large-scale resting-state fMRI datasets to reconstruct a coordinated brain network associated with neurological abnormalities in COVID-19 survivors.

In COVID-19 survivors, structural and functional alternations were mapped to a widely distributed brain network, primarily involving the default mode and limbic systems.

Our results reveal both common and distinct neural correlates underlying structural and functional impairments among COVID-19 survivors. These insights not only elucidate the neuropathology of the disease through a network-based framework but also support the development of therapeutic interventions for affected individuals.