According to the results of a global analysis conducted by the international consortium for the study of neurological dysfunction at COVID (GCS-Neurocovid), problems in this area arise more than 80 percent of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, and the risk of death in the presence of neurological complications increases in six times. The article was published in the journal Jama Network Open, RIA Novosti reports.
GCS-Neurocovid is the largest cohort study of the neurological manifestations of COVID-19, which combines data from 133 medical organizations in 13 countries located on four continents. Coordinated research scientists from the medical school of the University of Pittsburgh and the European Academy of Neurology.
“Very quickly in the pandemic period it became known that neurological problems hospitalized with COVID-19 are developing in a press release of the University of Pittsburgh, the words of the Head of Research, Associate Professor of Resuscitation, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Professor Sherry Chu (Sherry CHOU). – A year later, we still fight with an invisible enemy, and, as in any battle, we need reliable information. “
The report notes that neurological symptoms had from 3,744 hospitalized adult patients with COVID-19: about four of ten patients reported headaches, and three out of ten declared that they lost the smell or taste.
From neurological diagnoses set in the clinic, the most common (almost half of patients) was the sharp encephalopathy, followed by: Coma (17 percent) and stroke (six percent). Often, patients were in a state of changed consciousness, were depressed or, on the contrary, excited.
Despite the fact that previously scientists repeatedly expressed concerns about the ability of coronavirus to overcome the hematorecephalic barrier and directly attack the brain, causing edema and inflammation – meningitis and encephalitis, – these manifestations researchers have found less than one percent of patients hospitalized with COVID 19.
scientists also found that the presence of a neurological state of any type previously existing in the patient – from diseases of the head, spinal cord and nervous system to chronic migraine, dementia or alzheimer’s disease – doubled the risk of developing neurological complications associated with COVID-19. And the presence of any neurological symptoms of COVID-19, even such at first glance, as a loss of smell, increased the risk of death six times.
The authors of the report note that among those who defeated the disease, patients with neurological symptoms are worse than rehabilitated and their long-term prospects for complete recovery more uncertain.
“Even when the pandemic is completely eradicated, it is necessary to remember the millions of survivors who need help. It is important to find out with what symptoms and health problems these patients are faced now,” says Dr. Chu.