Abstract

Background: The detailed extent of neuroinvasion or deleterious brain changes resulting from COVID-19 and their time courses remain to be determined in relation to "long-haul" COVID-19 symptoms. Our objective is to determine whether there are alterations in functional brain imaging measures among people with COVID-19 after hospital discharge or self-isolation.

Methods: This paper describes a protocol for NeuroCOVID-19, a longitudinal observational study of adults aged 20-75 years at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario, that began in April 2020. We aim to recruit 240 adults, 60 per group: people who contracted COVID-19 and were admitted to hospital (group 1), people who contracted COVID-19 and self-isolated (group 2), people who experienced influenza-like symptoms at acute presentation but tested negative for COVID-19 and self-isolated (group 3, control) and healthy people (group 4, control). Participants are excluded based on premorbid neurologic or severe psychiatric illness, unstable cardiovascular disease, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contraindications. Initial and 3-month follow-up assessments include multiparametric brain MRI and electroencephalography. Sensation and cognition are assessed alongside neuropsychiatric assessments and symptom self-reports. We will test the data from the initial and follow-up assessments for group differences based on 3 outcome measures: MRI cerebral blood flow, MRI resting state fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and electroencephalography spectral power.

Interpretation: If neurophysiologic alterations are detected in the COVID-19 groups in our NeuroCOVID-19 study, this information could inform future research regarding interventions for long-haul COVID-19. The study results will be disseminated to scientists, clinicians and COVID-19 survivors, as well as the public and private sectors to provide context on how brain measures relate to lingering symptoms.

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: Sandra Black reports payments for contract research to her institution from GE Healthcare, Eli Lilly and Company, Biogen, Genentech, Optina Diagnostics and Roche; consulting fees and payments related to an advisory board from Roche; and payments related to an advisory board, a speaker panel, talks and an educational session from Biogen. There were peer-reviewed grants to her institution from the Ontario Brain Institute, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Leducq Foundation, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, National Institutes of Health, Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, Brain Canada, Weston Brain Institute, Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Focused Ultrasound Foundation, Alzheimer’s Association US, Department of National Defence, Montreal Medical International – Kuwait, Queen’s University, Compute Canada Resources for Research Groups, CANARIE and Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada. She has participated on a data safety monitoring board or advisory board for the Conference Board of Canada, World Dementia Council and University of Rochester. She has contributed to the mission and scientific leadership of the Small Vessel VCID Biomarker Validation Consortium, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. No other competing interests were declared.