Are the Post-COVID-19 Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptoms Justified by the Effects of COVID-19 on Brain Structure? A Systematic Review

Abstract

COVID-19 affects brain function, as deduced by the “brain fog” that is often encountered in COVID-19 patients and some cognitive impairment that is observed in many a patient in the post-COVID-19 period. Approximately one-third of patients, even when they have recovered from the acute somatic disease, continue to show posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. We hypothesized that the persistent changes induced by COVID-19 on brain structure would overlap with those associated with PTSD. We performed a thorough PubMed search on 25 April 2023 using the following strategy: ((posttraumatic OR PTSD) AND COVID-19 AND (neuroimaging OR voxel OR VBM OR freesurfer OR structural OR ROI OR whole-brain OR hippocamp* OR amygd* OR “deep gray matter” OR “cortical thickness” OR caudate OR striatum OR accumbens OR putamen OR “regions of interest” OR subcortical)) OR (COVID-19 AND brain AND (voxel[ti] OR VBM[ti] OR magnetic[ti] OR resonance[ti] OR imaging[ti] OR neuroimaging[ti] OR neuroimage[ti] OR positron[ti] OR photon*[ti] OR PET[ti] OR SPET[ti] OR SPECT[ti] OR spectroscop*[ti] OR MRS[ti])), which produced 486 records and two additional records from other sources, of which 36 were found to be eligible. Alterations were identified and described and plotted against the ordinary PTSD imaging findings. Common elements were hypometabolism in the insula and caudate nucleus, reduced hippocampal volumes, and subarachnoid hemorrhages, while white matter hyperintensities were widespread in both PTSD and post-COVID-19 brain infection. The comparison partly supported our initial hypothesis. These data may contribute to further investigation of the effects of long COVID on brain structure and function.