COVID-19 and Brain: Cognition and Mental Health
Condition: COVID-19
MeSH terms: COVID-19
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      The main goal of DIANA is to investigate the potential discriminative power of multimodal
      biomarkers in COVID adverse outcomes. The study of the neuropathological underlying
      mechanisms in COVID from a translational approach at: (1) the behavioural-clinical level from
      cognitive, emotional and functional data; (2) the brain connectome level from structural and
      functional imaging data; and (3) biogenetic level from blood and stool data. Moreover, the
      investigators will develop machine learning based predictive models of cognitive, mental
      health, functionality, and brain connectivity evolution in post-COVID syndrome patients.
    

Detailed description: 
      DIANA project is an observational, descriptive, and cross-sectional study in which
      participants will not be randomized. Case people (adult survivors of severe COVID-19 N=134)
      will compare to healthy adult controls (n=66). It is a multicentric study where all the
      participants will be recruited from eleven Catalan public health institutions. The
      participants will be assessed on cognitive, emotional and functional status. The
      investigators will obtain a blood sample to study inflammation, vascular risk, growth
      factors, angiogenesis, neurogenesis, and cellular metabolism biomarkers and genes, and a
      stool sample for gut microbiota study. Structural and functional MRI will be performed on a
      subgroup of participants 40 COVID-19 survivors and 40 healthy controls.

      The objectives of the project are:

        1. To examine the impact of the COVID-19 illness on cognition, emotion/behavior, and
           functionality.

        2. To examine the possible affectation in brain grey and white matter and functional
           connectivity of severe forms COVID-19 survivors.

        3. To relate demographic characteristics, previous pathologies, lifestyle, baseline
           cerebral status, genetic polymorphism, and clinical data in acute illness with
           cognitive, mental health, functionality, and brain connectivity outcomes of severe forms
           COVID-19 survivors.

        4. To study the post-COVID-19 biomarkers of inflammation, vascular risk, growth factors,
           angiogenesis, neurogenesis, and cellular metabolism and its relationship with the
           cognitive, mental health, functionality, and brain connectivity outcomes of severe forms
           COVID-19 survivors.

        5. To quantify the presence of different bacterial species in the post COVID stool sample
           and analyze the wealth and diversity of the diverse populations. To study if these
           values are related to the performance of neuropsychological and behavioral tests and
           neuroimaging data.

        6. - To develop machine learning based predictive models of cognitive, mental health,
           functionality and brain connectivity evolution in post COVID 19 survivors.
    

Observational model: Case-Control
Time perspective: Cross-Sectional
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        COVID-19 survivors group will be recruited in hospital and primary care services.

        The control population will be searched in the general population through primary care
        centers, the media, social networks, and they will be offered to participate in the study
        without remuneration.
      
Biospecimen description: 
      Whole blood, Feces
    
Keywords: COVID-19; Cognition; Mental Health; Neuroimaging; MachineLearning