Vascular mechanisms leading to progression of mild cognitive impairment to dementia after COVID-19: Protocol and methodology of a prospective longitudinal observational study.

A prospective longitudinal study is conducted at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Patients are screened in the Department of Neurology and must have a formal diagnosis of MCI, and MRI imaging prior to study enrollment. Patients who meet the inclusion criteria are enrolled and followed-up at 18-months after their first visit. Visit one and 18-month follow-up will include an integrated and cohesive battery of vascular and cognitive measurements, including peripheral endothelial function (flow-mediated dilation, laser speckle contrast imaging), retinal and cerebrovascular hemodynamics (dynamic vessel retinal analysis, functional near-infrared spectroscopy), and fluid and crystalized intelligence (NIH-Toolbox, n-back). Multiple logistic regression will be used for primary longitudinal data analysis to determine whether COVID-19 related impairment in neurovascular coupling and increases in white matter hyperintensity burden contribute to progression to dementia.