Trial Report Resting state EEG rhythms are abnormal in post covid-19 patients with brain fog without cognitive and affective disorders, 2024,

[Dolphin]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1388245724000610

Clinical Neurophysiology
Available online 6 March 2024
In Press, Journal Pre-proof

RESTING-STATE EEG RHYTHMS ARE ABNORMAL IN POST COVID-19 PATIENTS WITH BRAIN FOG WITHOUT COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE DISORDERS

Claudio Babiloni a b, Elio Gentilini Cacciola c 1, Federico Tucci a, Paolo Vassalini c, Agnese Chilovi c, Dharmendra Jakhar a, Andreea Maria Musat a, Marco Salvatore d, Andrea Soricelli d e, Fabrizio Stocchi f g, Laura Vacca f, Raffaele Ferri h, Valentina Catania h, Claudio Mastroianni c, Gabriella D'Ettorre c, Giuseppe Noce d 1
a
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology “Erspamer,” Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
b
Hospital San Raffaele Cassino, Cassino (FR), Italy
c
Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Umberto I Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
d
IRCCS Synlab SDN, Naples, Italy
e
Department of Medical, Movement and Wellbeing Sciences, University of Naples Parthenope, Naples, Italy
f
IRCCS San Raffaele Rome, Rome, Italy
g
Telematic University San Raffaele, Rome, Italy
h
IRCCS Associazione Oasi Maria SS, Troina (EN), Italy

Received 13 July 2023, Revised 13 February 2024, Accepted 29 February 2024, Available online 6 March 2024.


https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2024.02.034Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

• •
  More than 90% of post-COVID participants showed no cognitive or psychiatric disorders, and 75% showed ≥ 2 fatigue symptoms.
  
  
• •
  Compared to the Control group, the post-COVID group showed lower posterior resting state EEG alpha source activities.
  
  
• •
  This effect was more significant in the post-COVID patients with ≥ 2 fatigue symptoms, possibly related to vigilance and allostatic dysfunctions.

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.

Keywords
post-COVID-19
Brain fog
Resting state EEG Rhythms
Low-resolution brain electromagnetic source tomography (LORETA)

https://twitter.com/user/status/1767384501141795182

 

[Eleanor]

I've tried to read the paper but I'm too brainfogged to make much sense of what looks like at least partially machine-translated text.
(for example) "They kindly asked participants to keep a level of vigilance at the time they recognized the appearance of signs of drowsiness or light sleep such as loss of muscular neck tone and dominant theta rhythms or K complexes and sleep spindles." !

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

such as loss of muscular neck tone

Would that be 'nodding off'?

 

[rvallee]

Same old crap about functional somatic bla bla bla.

This is like trying to find the source of a sound, testing for electrical buzzing, and concluding that the electrical circuit is fine means that it's ghosts. Has to be. It's the latest fashionable theory, after all.

It's incredible how smart people can turn into complete fools because of belief systems.

 

[Hutan]

This is quite a complicated study, so it takes a bit of understanding. I'm not quite there yet. Post-Covid hospitalised older cohort

• Compared to the Control group, the post-COVID group showed lower posterior resting state EEG alpha source activities.

• This effect was more significant in the post-COVID patients with ≥ 2 fatigue symptoms, possibly related to vigilance and allostatic dysfunctions.

I think the main problem with this finding, as with so many others to do with brain function is that the people with a disease state are having an altogether different experience than the controls. Alpha waves relate to being in a relaxed state:

If for some reason your brain isn't producing very many alpha waves, it means that you're not in a relaxed, meditative state of mind.

It's quite likely that the people reporting symptoms would be feeling less relaxed about the whole exercise. It's even possible that the controls have been used as controls in previous EEG assessments, and so would be feeling extra relaxed.

I see from a quick google that this finding seems to be getting up a head of steam as a supposed explanation of functional syndromes.