Over 80% of people admitted with COVID-19 experience neurological complications: study

Toronto-A new study found that 82% of people hospitalized for COVID-19 experienced neurological symptoms.

The· ResearchConducted by the Global Consortium Study on Neurological Dysfunction of COVID-19 and the Neuro-COVID Registry of the European Academy of Neurology, evaluated for COVID-19-related neurological complications between March and October 2020. More than 3,700 patients from 13 countries were involved.

Researchers report that neurological complications are widespread, affecting 82 percent of patients hospitalized for the disease.

The average age of patients in the study admitted with COVID-19 was approximately 60 years, and there was a cohort of patients from the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

In this study, neurological complications are categorized by symptoms reported by patients such as headaches and loss of olfactory sensation, or neurological signs observed and diagnosed by physicians such as stroke and seizures.

Dr. Charles Casalzian, a neurologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, does not fully understand how COVID-19 causes neurological symptoms, but many viral illnesses have similar symptoms. Said to cause. Patients infected with COVID-19 also have low oxygen levels, which may be the reason they are experiencing neurological complications, he said.

“COVID-19 causes many patients to become severely hypoxic. [very low oxygen levels], And the brain needs oxygen. Decreased oxygen levels in many COVID-19 patients can contribute to brain dysfunction such as confusion, “Dr. Kassardijan, who did not participate in the study, told CTV News.ca.

“There are no known data that the overwhelming inflammation that can occur in some patients with COVID-19 or that the COVID-19 virus can directly invade the nervous system, but others. There are possible mechanisms. “

The most common self-reported symptom in this study was headache, which was reported by 37% of patients. The second most common symptom was loss of odor and taste, affecting 26% of patients.

For the neurological signs and syndromes clinically identified by the physician, 49 percent of patients were diagnosed with acute encephalopathy. This happens when an individual’s mental state changes, or when he suddenly begins to show confusion.

Kassardijan said another term for this neurological symptom is delirium.

“There are many risk factors for delirium, including being in the intensive care unit. In that case, acute encephalopathy may reflect the patient’s overall condition. In addition, stroke is COVID-19. It can occur in patients, which is an additional reason that patients can be confused. “

The study states that certain demographic groups are more likely to be diagnosed with more serious neurological complications than others.

“In a model in which these characteristics were reciprocally coordinated, older age, male gender, Caucasian, and existing neuropathy were associated with a risk of developing neurological signs or syndromes due to COVID-19,” the study said. Says.

Researchers also found that patients clinically diagnosed with COVID-19 neurological signs were associated with higher mortality than patients who were not diagnosed with neurological signs. Patients with self-reported symptoms had a lower risk of death.

“The presence of neurological signs or syndromes due to COVID-19 significantly increased the risk of dying during acute hospitalization after adjusting for variations due to study site and baseline characteristics,” the study said.

“In summary, these observations highlight the importance of neurological symptoms in COVID-19 and their potential impact on disease outcome.”