Photobiomodulation for Cognitive Dysfunction (Brain Fog) in Post-COVID-19 Condition: A Randomized Sham-Controlled Pilot Trial
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Summary Post-COVID-19 condition (PCC) affects millions globally, with cognitive dysfunction (“brain fog”) impairing daily functioning in up to 88% of patients. No effective treatments exist for PCC-related cognitive impairment. We conducted a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled pilot clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of home-based photobiomodulation (PBM) using the Vielight Neuro RX Gamma device in 43 adults with PCC. Participants received 8 weeks of daily 20-minute PBM or sham treatment, targeting the default mode network. The primary outcome was change in cognitive performance (Creyos battery) at Day 56. Active PBM showed greater improvement in composite cognitive scores (p=0.088), with significant gains in participants under 45 years (p=0.028). Attention tasks improved consistently across groups. PBM was safe, with high compliance and no serious adverse events. These findings suggest PBM’s potential as a non-invasive intervention for PCC cognitive impairment, warranting larger trials to confirm efficacy.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.007 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".