ReviewBrain, behavior, & immunity - health2021
Brain imaging in patients with COVID-19: A systematic review.
Review in Brain, behavior, & immunity - health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis of Cognitive Function Following Non-severe SARS-CoV-2 Infection.Neuropsychology review · 2025Pooled it
- Topographical Distribution of Neuroanatomical Abnormalities Following COVID-19 Invasion : A Systematic Literature Review.Clinical neuroradiology · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on functional and structural connectivity in post-COVID-19 condition patients: A randomized, sham-controlled trial.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2022Trial
- Helicobacter pylori infection and α-synuclein pathology drive parallel neurodegenerative pathways in the substantia nigra.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- Need for awareness and surveillance of long-term post-COVID neurodegenerative disorders. A position paper from the neuroCOVID-19 task force of the European Academy of Neurology.Journal of neurology · 2025Review
- Microglia dysfunction, neurovascular inflammation and focal neuropathologies are linked to IL-1- and IL-6-related systemic inflammation in COVID-19.Nature neuroscience · 2025Article
- Metabolic changes assessed by 1H MR spectroscopy in the corpus callosum of post-COVID patients.Magma (New York, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Systems Thinking, Causal Loop Diagram, and Systems Dynamic in Public Health Challenges: Navigating Long COVID Syndrome and Sense of Smell in LGBTQIA+ Communities.Public health challenges · 2024Review
- MRI evidence of gray matter loss in COVID-19 patients with cognitive and olfactory disorders.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2024Article
- Inflammatory Markers Predict Blood Neurofilament Light Chain Levels in Acute COVID-19 Patients.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Brain temperature and free water increases after mild COVID-19 infection.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Article
- Addressing Long COVID Sequelae and Neurocovid: Neuropsychological Scenarios and Neuroimaging Findings.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024Review
- Long-term cognitive dysfunction after the COVID-19 pandemic: a narrative review.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2023Article
- A cross-sectional case-control study on the structural connectome in recovered hospitalized COVID-19 patients.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The Use of Quantitative Electroencephalography (QEEG) to Assess Post-COVID-19 Concentration Disorders in Professional Pilots: An Initial Concept.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Abnormalities of brain imaging in COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms.Current journal of neurology · 2023Article
- COVID-19 and cognitive function: Evidence for increased processing speed variability in COVID-19 survivors and multifaceted impairment with long-COVID symptoms.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2023Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Clinical Findings in Medical Imaging Exams in a Nationwide Israeli Health Organization: Observational Study.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Neurological Manifestations of Non-Severe COVID-19-A Multidirectional Approach.Brain sciences · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere is increasing evidence that SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) not only affects the respiratory tract but also influence the central nervous system (CNS), resulting in neurological symptoms such as loss of smell and taste. Growing literature indicates largely distributed brain alterations encompassing subcortical micro- and macro-bleeds, cerebral swelling and haemorrhage in gray and white matter tissue. A systematic review was performed to synthesise the potential evidence of the brain correlates of SARS-CoV-2.
methodsA literature search was conducted using electronic databases for studies reporting neuroimaging abnormalities in SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals. Identified case series, cohort studies, and case control studies on SARS-CoV-2 effects on the brain were critically appraised for methodological quality. A narrative synthesis of the findings from the included studies is presented.
resultsTwenty-seven studies were included in the review, including 5 case series, 8 cohort studies and 14 case control studies. The findings revealed predominant involvement of the olfactory system with disruptions across four olfactory structures. Abnormalities also extended to the corpus callosum, cingulate cortex, and insula, jointly implicating the olfactory brain network.
conclusionAlterations in olfactory areas, along with neighbouring brain regions, including prefrontal and limbic regions were associated to contraction of SARS-CoV-2. Viral infection could either trigger systemic reactions, or use the olfactory's unique anatomical organisation as an environmental entry zone to directly impact on the CNS.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.