Relationships between the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and regional brain atrophy in mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Several studies have reported that the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) influenced cognitive function in the elderly. However, the effect of COVID-19-related fear on brain atrophy has not been evaluated. In this study, we evaluated the relation between brain atrophy and the effect of COVID-19-related fear by analysing changes in brain volume over time using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Methods: Participants were 25 Japanese patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or subjective cognitive decline (SCD), who underwent 1.5-tesla MRI scan twice, once before and once after the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, and the Fear of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Scale (FCV-19S) assessment during that period. We computed regional brain atrophy per day between the 1st and 2nd scan, and evaluated the relation between the FCV-19S scores and regional shrinkage.

Results: There was significant positive correlation between the total FCV-19S score and volume reduction per day in the right posterior cingulate cortex. Regarding the subscales of FCV-19S, we found significant positive correlation between factor 2 of the FCV-19S and shrinkage of the right posterior cingulate cortex.

Conclusions: There was positive correlation between the FCV-19S score and regional brain atrophy per day. Although it is already known that the psychological effects surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic cause cognitive function decline, our results further suggest that anxiety and fear related to COVID-19 cause regional brain atrophy.