FL Health System to Use AI to Investigate Effects of COVID-19 on Cognition

Researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine are collaborating with medical technology company Qynapse Inc. to research the effects of COVID-19 on vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID) using artificial intelligence (AI).

COVID-19 infection has been linked to cognitive impairment and mental health issues in the past, but the nature of these relationships remains complex. In one recent study with a cohort of 181 patients, 78 percent reported difficulty concentrating, 69 percent reported brain fog, 68 percent reported forgetfulness, and 60 percent reported problems finding the right word in speech.

To investigate the connection between COVID-19 and cognitive impairment further, researchers at the University of Miami will use an AI-powered neuroimaging analysis platform for central nervous system (CNS) disorders to collect and analyze relevant data from a cohort of 250 patients.

These individuals’ clinical, neuropsychological, MRI, and biological data will be collected for deep phenotyping purposes. Each patient will attend a 24-month follow-up visit. Using these data, Qynapse’s imaging platform will be used to automatically segment and quantify volumes of regional brain and white matter hyperintensities for MRI brain image analysis.

"We hope to leverage Qynapse's advanced AI tool to enhance the quality of the study's brain imaging analysis and to facilitate the discovery of new insights about COVID-19's potential impacts on vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia," said James E. Galvin, MD, principal investigator of the study and director of the Comprehensive Center for Brain Health at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Department of Neurology, in the press release.

In addition to this work, the press release states that Galvin, the University of Miami, and Qynapse signed an agreement in 2021 to launch two studies on dementia and Parkinson’s disease (PD). The first will use Qynapse’s AI to screen a multicultural cohort for dementia using MRI, amyloid, and tau PET neuroimaging. The second will use the platform to investigate neuroanatomical correlates of Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD).

The latest collaboration is part of a larger trend in healthcare in which researchers are leveraging AI to investigate COVID-19 and its clinical impacts.

In August, researchers from the University of Florida (UF) were awarded $3.7 million to create an AI algorithm capable of accurately tracking COVID-19 and predicting new variants.

This month, new research from the Maastricht University Institute of Data Science and the University of Bristol showed that two mobile apps are successfully using AI features, like voice analytics and symptom tracking, to detect and manage diseases such as COVID-19 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

This week, Indiana University (IU) announced a partnership with the Regenstrief Institute to develop a population-based surveillance system to determine the prevalence, trends, and outcomes of long COVID following a five-year, $9 million award from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).