{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T14:31:24Z","timestamp":1792161084120,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,16]],"date-time":"2024-03-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1710547200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JPM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: this prospective observational study aims to assess serum levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), s100b, and total Tau in long-COVID patients, exploring correlations with symptoms, cognitive decline, mental health, and quality of life. Methods: Long-COVID patients visiting our outpatient clinic (February 2021\u2013December 2022) were screened alongside age- and sex-matched controls. GFAP, s100b, and total Tau in serum were measured with ELISA. Cognitive function, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and quality of life were evaluated using MoCA, HADS (depression and anxiety), IES-R, and SF-36, respectively. Results: Sixty-five long-COVID patients and 20 controls were included. GFAP levels were significantly higher in long-COVID patients (p = 0.031), though not correlating with the presence of long-COVID symptoms. S100b and total Tau showed no significant differences between patients and controls. Nervous system-related symptoms were reported in 47% of patients. High rates of cognitive decline (65.9%), depression (32.2%), anxiety (47.5%), and post-traumatic stress disorder (44.1%) were observed. Over 80% of the study population scored below normative cutoffs for SF-36, indicating a significant impact on quality of life. Conclusions: in this long-COVID cohort with substantial psychological and cognitive symptoms, GFAP levels were elevated compared to controls, though not correlating with the presence of long-COVID symptoms.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jpm14030313","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,18]],"date-time":"2024-03-18T05:14:07Z","timestamp":1710738847000},"page":"313","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["A Prospective Study on Neural Biomarkers in Patients with Long-COVID Symptoms"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1067-8849","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Charikleia S.","family":"Vrettou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"First Department of Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4984-0476","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alice G.","family":"Vassiliou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"First Department of Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4047-3588","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chrysi","family":"Keskinidou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"First Department of Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Panagiotis","family":"Mourelatos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism, National Expertise Center for Rare Endocrine Diseases, Evangelismos Hospital, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0425-6543","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andreas","family":"Asimakos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"First Department of Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9053-3219","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stavroula","family":"Spetsioti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"First Department of Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aristidis","family":"Diamantopoulos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism, National Expertise Center for Rare Endocrine Diseases, Evangelismos Hospital, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7306-713X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Edison","family":"Jahaj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"First Department of Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Archontoula","family":"Antonoglou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"First Department of Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8736-619X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paraskevi","family":"Katsaounou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"First Department of Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dimitra A.","family":"Vassiliadi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism, National Expertise Center for Rare Endocrine Diseases, Evangelismos Hospital, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2508-500X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anastasia","family":"Kotanidou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"First Department of Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2219-7292","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ioanna","family":"Dimopoulou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"First Department of Critical Care Medicine, Evangelismos Hospital, Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"767","DOI":"10.1016\/S1474-4422(20)30221-0","article-title":"Neurological Associations of COVID-19","volume":"19","author":"Ellul","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet Neurol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"811","DOI":"10.1136\/jnnp-2020-323667","article-title":"Defining Causality in COVID-19 and Neurological 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