The impact of COVID‐19 lockdown on brain metabolism

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the impact of French national lockdown of 55 days on brain metabolism of patients with neurological disorders. Whole-brain voxel-based PET analysis was used to correlate 18 F-FDG metabolism to the number of days after March 17, 2020 (in 95 patients; mean age: 54.3 years ± 15.7; 59 men), in comparison to the same period in 2019 before the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak (in 212 patients; mean age: 59.5 years ± 15.8; 114 men), and to the first 55 days of deconfinement (in 188 patients; mean age: 57.5 years ± 16.5; 93 men). Lockdown duration was negatively correlated to the metabolism of the sensory-motor cortex with a prevailing effect on the left dominant pyramidal tract and on younger patients, also including the left amygdala, with only partial reversibility after 55 days of deconfinement. Weak overlap was found with the reported pattern of hypometabolism in long COVID (<9%).Restriction of physical activities, and possible related deconditioning, and social isolation may lead to functional disturbances of sensorimotor and emotional brain networks. Of note, this metabolic pattern seems distinct to those reported in long COVID. Further longitudinal studies with longer follow-up are needed to evaluate clinical consequences and relationships on cognitive and mental health against functional deactivation hypothesis, and to extend these findings to healthy subjects in the context of lockdown.

2-[18F]-FDG PET for imaging brain involvement in patients with long COVID: perspective of the EANM Neuroimaging Committee

“…In addition to psychiatric explanations, some authors have linked long COVID symptoms with a similar functional explanation to possible deconditioning related to the lockdown. Interestingly, the reported hypometabolic long COVID pattern differs from that of the deconditioning state reported in the COVID-19 lockdown in a study including approximately 500 patients, with less than 9% concordance between the two conditions [ 30 ].…”

Brain Metabolic PET Findings on the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19

“…Importantly, our PET results were also obtained by comparing long-COVID patients with age-matched control patients with functional symptoms, in whom somatic cerebral diseases were thereafter excluded at follow-up (4), bringing additional arguments against exclusive psychologic explanations. We also noticed that this profile is distinct from those associated with the lockdown impact (10).…”

The vibe of musical and social reward: Listening to beat-based music acts as a surrogate for socioemotional support during the Covid-19 pandemic

“…Social isolation has previously been associated with detrimental effects on (mental) health that are comparable to those of smoking as well as with an increased risk for neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression (House et al, 1988). This becomes even more striking when considering that Covid-related deprivation from physical activity and social isolation entail a hypometabolism in sensorimotor and emotional brain networks, that was found to be only partially reversible after almost two months of the deconfinement, as reported by a recent study with patients with neurologic disorders (Guedj et al, 2022). Here, the development of standardized music interventions mightat least partially and to some extendprevent or counteract this hypo-stimulation of the according networks, for instance, by listening to music that incorporates features specifically stimulating the motor system, such as rhythm-based music.…”