Full text

Turn on search term navigation

© 2023 Owens et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

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.

Details

Title
Vascular mechanisms leading to progression of mild cognitive impairment to dementia after COVID-19: Protocol and methodology of a prospective longitudinal observational study
Author
Owens, Cameron D  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Camila Bonin Pinto  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Mukli, Peter; Szarvas, Zsofia; Peterfi, Anna; Detwiler, Sam; Olay, Lauren; Olson, Ann L; Li, Guangpu; Galvan, Veronica; Kirkpatrick, Angelia C; Balasubramanian, Priya; Tarantini, Stefano; Csiszar, Anna; Ungvari, Zoltan; Prodan, Calin I; Yabluchanskiy, Andriy  VIAFID ORCID Logo 
First page
e0289508
Section
Study Protocol
Publication year
2023
Publication date
Aug 2023
Publisher
Public Library of Science
e-ISSN
19326203
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2845498585
Copyright
© 2023 Owens et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.