ArticleBMC medicine2023
Causal effects of COVID-19 on structural changes in specific brain regions: a Mendelian randomization study.
Article in BMC medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Causal association of COVID-19 with brain structure changes: Findings from a non-overlapping 2-sample Mendelian randomization study.Journal of the neurological sciences · 2023Pooled it
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- COVID-19 related brain MRI changes and anticipated long-term dementia risk: A front-door-criterion-inspired approach.Annals of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Concordance of cortical morphological anomalies with genetic predisposition to multisite chronic pain in females.The Korean journal of pain · 2026Article
- Outcomes of Patients with Neurocognitive Symptoms Attending a Long COVID Clinic: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Exploring the bidirectional relationships between MRI resting-state functional connectivity networks and cardiovascular diseases: a Mendelian randomization study.Brain informatics · 2025Article
- Genetic insights into drug targets for alzheimer's disease: integrative multi-omics analysis.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Article
- Unlocking the Secrets: Causal Associations Between Blood Metabolites and Aspergillosis.Current microbiology · 2025Article
- Brain Microstructural Alterations in Children Post-COVID-19 Infection Through VBM, SBM, and Structural Covariance Network Analysis.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
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- Global incidence trends and projections of Alzheimer disease and other dementias: an age-period-cohort analysis 2021.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- Persistent Symptoms and Associated Risk Factors of COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study in Minia, Upper Egypt.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Causal association of long COVID with brain structure changes: Findings from a 2-sample Mendelian randomization study.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Association between cardiovascular, psychotropic and anti-inflammatory/analgesic drug use and vascular dysfunction in individuals with long COVID. BioICOPER study.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Article
- Brain structures as potential mediators of the causal effect of COVID 19 on migraine risk.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Brain abnormalities in survivors of COVID-19 after 2-year recovery: a functional MRI study.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2024Article
- Associations between COVID-19 and putative markers of neuroinflammation: A diffusion basis spectrum imaging study.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2024Article
- Investigation of the association between circulating inflammatory proteins and encephalitis risk in Europeans by two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPrevious studies have found a correlation between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and changes in brain structure and cognitive function, but it remains unclear whether COVID-19 causes brain structural changes and which specific brain regions are affected. Herein, we conducted a Mendelian randomization (MR) study to investigate this causal relationship and to identify specific brain regions vulnerable to COVID-19.
methodsGenome-wide association study (GWAS) data for COVID-19 phenotypes (28,900 COVID-19 cases and 3,251,161 controls) were selected as exposures, and GWAS data for brain structural traits (cortical thickness and surface area from 51,665 participants and volume of subcortical structures from 30,717 participants) were selected as outcomes. Inverse-variance weighted method was used as the main estimate method. The weighted median, MR-Egger, MR-PRESSO global test, and Cochran's Q statistic were used to detect heterogeneity and pleiotropy.
resultsThe genetically predicted COVID-19 infection phenotype was nominally associated with reduced cortical thickness in the caudal middle frontal gyrus (β = - 0.0044, p = 0.0412). The hospitalized COVID-19 phenotype was nominally associated with reduced cortical thickness in the lateral orbitofrontal gyrus (β = - 0.0049, p = 0.0328) and rostral middle frontal gyrus (β = - 0.0022, p = 0.0032) as well as with reduced cortical surface area of the middle temporal gyrus (β = - 10.8855, p = 0.0266). These causal relationships were also identified in the severe COVID-19 phenotype. Additionally, the severe COVID-19 phenotype was nominally associated with reduced cortical thickness in the cuneus (β = - 0.0024, p = 0.0168); reduced cortical surface area of the pericalcarine (β = - 2.6628, p = 0.0492), superior parietal gyrus (β = - 5.6310, p = 0.0408), and parahippocampal gyrus (β = - 0.1473, p = 0.0297); and reduced volume in the hippocampus (β = - 15.9130, p = 0.0024).
conclusionsOur study indicates a suggestively significant association between genetic predisposition to COVID-19 and atrophy in specific functional regions of the human brain. Patients with COVID-19 and cognitive impairment should be actively managed to alleviate neurocognitive symptoms and minimize long-term effects.
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