Ai Wern Chung1, James W. Dodd2, Rebecca A. Charlton3, Paul W. Jones2, Thomas R. Barrick1
1Stroke and Dementia Research Centre, St George's University of London, London, United Kingdom; 2Division of Clinical Science, St George's University of London, London, United Kingdom; 3Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous condition increasingly recognised to be a multi-system disorder associated with a wide range of extra pulmonary comorbidities such as heart disease. Brain pathology and cognitive dysfunction is a potential systemic occurrence in COPD. Using functional MRI, we sought to identify differences in the underlying functional connectivity between stable COPD patients and controls, under the resting-state condition. We found wide-spread decrease in resting-state functional connectivity across the brain including the default mode and pre-frontal networks, suggesting global differences between patients and controls.