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A new study suggests the extreme mental and physical fatigue experienced by many long COVID patients is, in fact, observable in the central nervous system. Scanning the brains of 127 long COVID patients, scientists found some parts of the brain were communicating with others in a slightly altered way.
These regions include the frontal lobe, the temporal lobe, and the cerebellum, and while it's not clear how long the changes might last, the pattern could be used to identify those battling ongoing fatigue.The frontal lobe is the part of the brain associated with higher executive functions, like planning, reasoning, and problem solving. Meanwhile, the temporal lobe is associated with memory and processing, and the cerebellum is linked to movement, posture, and balance. CFS/ME comes with many of the same symptoms as long COVID; however, it remains unclear how the two illnesses relate.suggest brain changes associated with long COVID mirror those of CFS/ME, but further research using larger and more diverse sample sizes is needed. The new study on long COVID, led by neuropsychologist Maria Diez-Cirarda, does not consider CFS/ME, but it analyzes the brain scans of 127 people who had contractedRoughly 87 percent reported symptoms of global fatigue, including physical or mental fatigue, and 86 percent said they were suffering from cognitive complaints, like memory, attention, or processing issues. Ultimately, those with global fatigue, physical fatigue, or cognitive complaints showed reduced connectivity between the frontal and occipital brain regions. They also showed increased connectivity between the cerebellar and temporal areas. Mental fatigue, however, stood out. It was associated with distinct changes in the left prefrontal areas, the anterior cingulate, and the left insula – the central hubs of a Changes to white matter were also found in the brains of long COVID patients with lingering fatigue. White matter contains the nerve fibers that connect neurons, and these are covered in white sheaths, which protect and allow messages to be sent faster.Interestingly, the current brain study found no changes in gray matter, which contains the bodies of neurons. Previous studies have shownin COVID patients, but this shrinkage was recorded during or shortly after an infection, and it may not last over the longer term. Given how malleable the brain can be, it's important that future studies investigate the changes of long COVID over greater lengths of time. Further research could also investigate how fatigue due to long COVID compares to other conditions, like ME/CFS or multiple sclerosis. "The involvement of the central nervous system in the pathophysiology of fatigue in post-COVID syndrome paves the way for the use of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques to alleviate fatigue in these patients," the researchers
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