Reduced TMS-evoked EEG oscillatory activity in cortical motor regions in patients with post-COVID fatigue.
Clin Neurophysiol
; 165: 26-35, 2024 Sep.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38943790
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Persistent fatigue is a major symptom of the so-called 'long-COVID syndrome', but the pathophysiological processes that cause it remain unclear. We hypothesized that fatigue after COVID-19 would be associated with altered cortical activity in premotor and motor regions.METHODS:
We used transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with EEG (TMS-EEG) to explore the neural oscillatory activity of the left primary motor area (l-M1) and supplementary motor area (SMA) in a group of sixteen post-COVID patients complaining of lingering fatigue as compared to a sample of age-matched healthy controls. Perceived fatigue was assessed with the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and Fatigue Rating Scale (FRS).RESULTS:
Post-COVID patients showed a remarkable reduction of beta frequency in both areas. Correlation analysis exploring linear relation between neurophysiological and clinical measures revealed a significant inverse correlation between the individual level of beta oscillations evoked by TMS of SMA with the individual scores in the FRS (r(15) = -0.596; p = 0.012).CONCLUSIONS:
Post-COVID fatigue is associated with a reduction of TMS-evoked beta oscillatory activity in SMA.SIGNIFICANCE:
TMS-EEG could be used to identify early alterations of cortical oscillatory activity that could be related to the COVID impact in central fatigue.Palavras-chave
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Potencial Evocado Motor
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Eletroencefalografia
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Estimulação Magnética Transcraniana
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Fadiga
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COVID-19
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Córtex Motor
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article