Researchers: Cameron D Owens, Camila Bonin Pinto, Peter Mukli, Zsofia Szarvas, Anna Peterfi, Sam Detwiler, Lauren Olay, Ann L Olson, Guangpu Li, Veronica Galvan, Angelia C Kirkpatrick, Priya Balasubramanian, Stefano Tarantini, Anna Csiszar, Zoltan Ungvari, Calin I Prodan, Andriy Yabluchanskiy
INTRODUCTION: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a prodromal stage to dementia, affecting up to 20% of the aging population worldwide. Patients with MCI have an annual conversion rate to dementia of 15-20%. Thus, conditions that increase the conversion from MCI to dementia are of the utmost public health concern. The COVID-19 pandemic poses a significant impact on our aging population with cognitive decline as one of the leading complications following recovery from acute infection. Recent findings suggest that COVID-19 increases the conversion rate from MCI to dementia in older adults. Hence, we aim to uncover a mechanism for COVID-19 induced cognitive impairment and progression to dementia to pave the way for future therapeutic targets that may mitigate COVID-19 induced cognitive decline. METHODOLOGY: A prospective longitudinal study is conducted at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Patients are screened in the Department of Neurology and must have a formal diagnosis of MCI, and MRI imaging prior to study enrollment. Patients who meet the inclusion criteria are enrolled and followed-up at 18-months after their first visit. Visit one and 18-month follow-up will include an integrated and cohesive battery of vascular and cognitive measurements, including peripheral endothelial function (flow-mediated dilation, laser speckle contrast imaging), retinal and cerebrovascular hemodynamics (dynamic vessel retinal analysis, functional near-infrared spectroscopy), and fluid and crystalized intelligence (NIH-Toolbox, n-back). Multiple logistic regression will be used for primary longitudinal data analysis to determine whether COVID-19 related impairment in neurovascular coupling and increases in white matter hyperintensity burden contribute to progression to dementia.
References
- Cerebral small vessel disease pathology in COVID-19 patients: A systematic review.
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- NAD+ in COVID-19 and viral infections.
Topic: Memory training in elderly