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Final Program


Final Congress Guide

Biomedical Sciences

100 Section - Cognitive fatigability and cerebral perfusion during sustained attention in patients with post COVID-19 condition: An fMRI study

Wednesday, May 20, 2026
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM PT
Objectives : The aim of the present study was to investigate both state and performance fatigue and their relation to cerebral blood flow (CBF) alterations  in persons with PCC.

Design: 22 patients with PCC and 19 non-symptomatic controls, matched by age and gender performed a 20 minute long psychomotor vigilance task (PVT). Fatigability was measured using reaction times (RTs) divided into quartiles. During the task, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was conducted using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) for CBF measurements covering the whole brain. Self-reported fatigue was assessed before and after the PVT.

Results:  Patients showed longer reaction times (RTs) than controls across all quartiles. A mixed ANOVA with quartiles (within-subject) and group (between-subject) revealed no significant main effect of quartiles, F(3,37)=1.88, p=.136, η²=.046, and no quartile × group interaction, F(3,37)=1.28, p=.285, η²=.032, indicating RTs did not change systematically over time and groups did not differ in fatigability. Patients exhibited greater RT variability (SD) in every quartile (Q1=58.5, Q2=89.7, Q3=96.4, Q4=94). Voxel-wise t-tests showed decreased cerebral blood flow (CBF) in patients in the right inferior occipital gyrus, left postcentral gyrus, right middle cingulate cortex, right cerebellum, and left middle occipital gyrus. In significant clusters, CBF was on average 38.2% lower in patients, while whole-brain gray matter CBF was 4.8% lower compared to controls.

Conclusion: Individuals with PCC exhibit pronounced subjective fatigue and slower performance on PVT, a pattern commonly observed in fatigued patients. We also identified reduced cerebral perfusion both globally and in regions associated with fatigue network.