Ran Yuchen, Wu Shuang, Liu Shuai, Chen Chao, Li Yangxi, Gao Tianxin, Fan Yingwei, Tang Xiaoying
School of Medical Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China.
School of Life Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China.
J Biophotonics. 2025 Sep 14:e202500206. doi: 10.1002/jbio.202500206.
COVID-19 has increased the likelihood of cognitive impairment in patients with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). There is a lack of direct evidence regarding the working memory performance of mild patients during the recovery period. This study employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to construct a mixed effects model for PASC patients performing the N-back task, assessing brain activation levels and brain connectivity. PASC patients exhibited abnormally low activation in the parietal lobe (β = -0.21) and abnormally high activation in the occipital lobe (β = 0.40). There was a significant reduction in brain connectivity within the frontal-parietal and frontal-occipital networks. These findings suggest that PASC patients experience impaired fronto-parietal network connectivity, rely more on the visual cortex to compensate for executive function deficits, and use this as a compensatory mechanism to reduce overall cerebral blood oxygenation. This study provides evidence of altered brain activation patterns in PASC patients during the recovery period due to cognitive impairment.
