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Observational Study
. 2020 Nov;27(11):2322-2328.
doi: 10.1111/ene.14444. Epub 2020 Aug 24.

Assessment of neurological manifestations in hospitalized patients with COVID-19

M Luigetti  1   2 , R Iorio  1   2 , A R Bentivoglio  1   2 , L Tricoli  1   2 , V Riso  1   2 , J Marotta  1   2 , C Piano  1   2 , G Primiano  1   2 , L Zileri Del Verme  3 , M R Lo Monaco  4 , P Calabresi  1   2 ; GEMELLI AGAINST COVID-19 group
Collaborators, Affiliations
Observational Study

Assessment of neurological manifestations in hospitalized patients with COVID-19

M Luigetti et al. Eur J Neurol. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Background and purpose: The objective of this study was to assess the neurological manifestations in a series of consecutive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-positive patients, comparing their frequency with a population hospitalized in the same period for flu/respiratory symptoms, finally not related to SARS-CoV-2.

Methods: Patients with flu/respiratory symptoms admitted to Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli hospital from 14 March 2020 to 20 April 2020 were retrospectively enrolled. The frequency of neurological manifestations of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection was compared with a control group.

Results: In all, 213 patients were found to be positive for SARS-CoV-2, after reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction on nasal or throat swabs, whilst 218 patients were found to be negative and were used as a control group. Regarding central nervous system manifestations, in SARS-CoV-2-positive patients a higher frequency of headache, hyposmia and encephalopathy always related to systemic conditions (fever or hypoxia) was observed. Furthermore, muscular involvement was more frequent in SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Conclusions: Patients with COVID-19 commonly have neurological manifestations but only hyposmia and muscle involvement seem more frequent compared with other flu diseases.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; muscle; neurological disorders; precision medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no disclosures relevant to the paper.

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