TORONTO A new study has found that 82 per cent of people who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 experienced neurological symptoms. The study, conducted by the Global Consortium Study of Neurologic Dysfunction in COVID-19 and the European Academy of Neurology Neuro-COVID Registry, involved over 3,700 patients across 13 countries who were assessed between March and October 2020 for neurological complications related to COVID-19. Researchers report that neurological complications are widespread, and affected 82 per cent of patients who were hospitalized due to the disease. The average age of patients in the study who were hospitalized with COVID-19 was around 60 years old, with cohorts of patients from the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Patients with neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19 are six times more likely to die
Patients with clinically diagnosed neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19 are six times more likely to die in the hospital than those without the neurological complications, according to an interim analysis from the Global Consortium Study of Neurologic Dysfunction in COVID-19 (GCS-NeuroCOVID).
A paper published today in
JAMA Network Open presents early results of the global effort to gather information about the incidence, severity and outcomes of neurological manifestations of COVID-19 disease. Very early on in the pandemic, it became apparent that a good number of people who were sick enough to be hospitalized also develop neurological problems, said lead author Sherry Chou, M.D., M.Sc., principal investigator of the consortium and associate professor of critical care medicine, neurology, and neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC.
TORONTO A new study has found that 82 per cent of people who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 experienced neurological symptoms. The study, conducted by the Global Consortium Study of Neurologic Dysfunction in COVID-19 and the European Academy of Neurology Neuro-COVID Registry, involved over 3,700 patients across 13 countries who were assessed between March and October 2020 for neurological complications related to COVID-19. Researchers report that neurological complications are widespread, and affected 82 per cent of patients who were hospitalized due to the disease. The average age of patients in the study who were hospitalized with COVID-19 was around 60 years old, with cohorts of patients from the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa.
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Eight of 10 hospitalized COVID-19 patients developed neurologic complications and were six times more likely than their peers to die, according to early results from a global study published yesterday in
JAMA Network Open.
Many of the conditions were mild to moderate, but half of the patients had altered brain function or structure, and almost one in five were in a coma.
Led by University of Pittsburgh researchers for the Global Consortium Study of Neurologic Dysfunction in COVID-19, the study involved 3,744 hospitalized adult COVID-19 patients at 28 centers in 13 countries from March to October 2020.
Half have acute encephalopathy
Among the patients, 82% reported neurologic symptoms, with 37% having headaches and 26% saying they lost their sense of taste or smell. Clinicians determined that 49% of the patients had acute encephalopathy (diffuse disease that alters brain function or structure), while 17% were in a coma, and 6% had strokes.