Lower functional connectivity in areas of reduced cerebrovascular reactivity in elderly patients with long COVID

Abstract

Patients suffering from long COVID report cognitive symptoms months after disease onset, which may be related to neurovascular changes. Here, we evaluated functional connectivity in long COVID elderly patients and control subjects using a region of lower cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) as the seed. We found significantly lower connectivity in long COVID patients that was widespread potentially linking alterations in CVR to functional connectivity and reduced cognitive ability in long COVID patients.