COVID-19-associated cerebral microbleeds in the general population.

Cerebral microbleeds are frequent incidental findings on brain MRI and have previously been shown to occur in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cohorts of critically ill patients. We aimed to determine the risk of having microbleeds on medically indicated brain MRI and compare non-hospitalized COVID-19-infected patients with non-infected controls. In this retrospective case-control study, we included patients over 18 years of age, having an MRI with a susceptibility-weighted sequence, between 1 January 2019 and 1 July 2021. Cases were identified based on a positive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction test for SARS-CoV-2 and matched with three non-exposed controls, based on age, sex, body mass index and comorbidities. The number of cerebral microbleeds on each scan was determined using artificial intelligence. We included 73 cases and 219 matched non-exposed controls. COVID-19 was associated with significantly greater odds of having cerebral microbleeds on MRI [odds ratio 2.66 (1.23-5.76, 95% confidence interval)], increasingly so when patients with dementia and hospitalized patients were excluded. Our findings indicate that cerebral microbleeds may be associated with COVID-19 infections. This finding may add to the pathophysiological considerations of cerebral microbleeds and help explain cases of incidental cerebral microbleeds in patients with previous COVID-19.

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© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain.

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C.K., M.V.S., N.R.F., K.V.K., M.M.G. and M.N. have all received support from Innovation Fund Denmark; M.V.S. also received support from Herlev and Gentofte Hospital’s internal research fund. C.K. has been compensated as a principal investigator for Bayer and Bristol Myers Squibb International Corporation. M.N. declared grants from Novo Nordisk Foundation and Finish Academy of Science and Technical University of Munich and holds stock in Cerebriu A/S, Biomediq A/S and Alomic Aps. E.J.-S. has been supported by Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Union Chimique Belge, Gilead, Novartis and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. K.V.K. and N.R.F. have research grants from the University of Copenhagen. M.M.G. is supported by VELUX FONDEN, Pioneer Centre for Artificial Intelligence and the Danish National Research Foundation.