1. Reduced TMS-evoked EEG oscillatory activity in cortical motor regions in patients with post-COVID fatigue.
- Author
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Casula EP, Esposito R, Dezi S, Ortelli P, Sebastianelli L, Ferrazzoli D, Saltuari L, Pezzopane V, Borghi I, Rocchi L, Ajello V, Trinka E, Oliviero A, Koch G, and Versace V
- Subjects
- Humans, Male, Female, Middle Aged, Adult, Beta Rhythm physiology, Aged, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation methods, COVID-19 physiopathology, COVID-19 complications, Motor Cortex physiopathology, Fatigue physiopathology, Fatigue etiology, Electroencephalography methods, Evoked Potentials, Motor physiology
- 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., (Copyright © 2024 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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