ArticleMolecular psychiatry2024
Long COVID: plasma levels of neurofilament light chain in mild COVID-19 patients with neurocognitive symptoms.
Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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
22 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Human brain matters: Navigating the neuropathology of COVID-19.Brain pathology (Zurich, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Neurodegenerative and Cognitive Consequences of Long COVID.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Exploring pathways leading to drug-resistant epilepsy for patients with cryptogenic new onset refractory status epilepticus.Epilepsia · 2026Article
- Transfer of IgG from long COVID patients induces symptomology in mice.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Article
- Protein microarray-based profiling of salivary IgA antibodies against human proteins in COVID-19 patients with depressive symptoms.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Long-COVID: assessment of circulating markers suggests no cerebral neuronal damage, neuroinflammation or systemic inflammation-a controlled study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Applicability and adaptation of cognitive behavior therapy for long COVID neuropsychiatric symptoms: a review with insights from ME/CFS.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Review
- Causes of symptoms and symptom persistence in long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.Cell reports. Medicine · 2025Review
- Long COVID-19: A Concept Analysis.Infectious disease reports · 2025Article
- Hamsters with long COVID present distinct transcriptomic profiles associated with neurodegenerative processes in brainstem.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Article
- Plasma proteomic evidence for increased β-amyloid pathology after SARS-CoV-2 infection.Nature medicine · 2025Article
- Evidence of clinical and brain recovery in post-COVID-19 condition: a three-year follow-up study.Brain communications · 2025Article
- Driving under viral impairment: Linking acute SARS-CoV-2 infections to elevated car crash risks.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Serum angiotensin type-1 receptor autoantibodies and neurofilament light chain as markers of neuroaxonal damage in post-COVID patients.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Anti-neuronal and anti-mitochondrial autoantibodies are associated with lower functional status and more severe respiratory symptoms in post COVID syndrome.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Intestinal barrier compromise, viral persistence, and immune dysregulation converge on neurological sequelae in Long COVID.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Review
- Post COVID-19 condition is associated with altered regional cerebral blood volume as revealed by dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI.Frontiers in neuroimaging · 2025Article
- Postacute Sequelae of COVID (PASC or Long COVID): An Evidenced-Based Approach.Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
It is well known the potential of severe acute respiratory coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection to induce post-acute sequelae, a condition called Long COVID. This syndrome includes several symptoms, but the central nervous system (CNS) main one is neurocognitive dysfunction. Recently it has been demonstrated the relevance of plasma levels of neurofilament light chain (pNfL), as a biomarker of early involvement of the CNS in COVID-19. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between pNfL in patients with post-acute neurocognitive symptoms and the potential of NfL as a prognostic biomarker in these cases. A group of 63 long COVID patients ranging from 18 to 59 years-old were evaluated, submitted to a neurocognitive battery assessment, and subdivided in different groups, according to results. Plasma samples were collected during the long COVID assessment and used for measurement of pNfL with the Single molecule array (SIMOA) assays. Levels of pNfL were significantly higher in long COVID patients with neurocognitive symptoms when compared to HC (p = 0.0031). Long COVID patients with cognitive impairment and fatigue symptoms presented higher pNfL levels when compared to long COVID patients without these symptoms, individually and combined (p = 0.0263, p = 0.0480, and 0.0142, respectively). Correlation analysis showed that levels of cognitive lost and exacerbation of fatigue in the neurocognitive evaluation had a significative correlation with higher pNfL levels (p = 0.0219 and 0.0255, respectively). Previous reports suggested that pNfL levels are related with higher risk of severity and predict lethality of COVID-19. Our findings demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 infection seems to have a long-term impact on the brain, even in patients who presented mild acute disease. NfL measurements might be useful to identify CNS involvement in long COVID associated with neurocognitive symptoms and to identify who will need continuous monitoring and treatment support.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.