Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Jun;42(6):2273-2281.
doi: 10.1007/s10072-021-05231-0. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Cognitive and behavioral manifestations in SARS-CoV-2 infection: not specific or distinctive features?

Andrea Stracciari  1   2 , Gabriella Bottini  3   4 , Maria Guarino  5 , Eugenio Magni  6 , Leonardo Pantoni  7 ; “Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology” Study Group of the Italian Neurological Society
Affiliations
Review

Cognitive and behavioral manifestations in SARS-CoV-2 infection: not specific or distinctive features?

Andrea Stracciari et al. Neurol Sci. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Patients with COVID-19 are increasingly reported to suffer from a wide range of neurological complications, affecting both the central and peripheral nervous system. Among central manifestations, cognitive and behavioral symptoms are to date not exhaustively detailed. Furthermore, it is not clear whether these represent a combination of non-specific complications of a severe systemic disease, not differing from those usually seen in patients suffering from heterogenous pathological conditions affecting the central nervous system, or instead, they are a peculiar expression of COVID-19 neurotropism; in other words, if the infection has a coincidental or causal role in such patients. We examined both hypotheses, reporting opposite points of view, with the aim to stimulate discussion and raise awareness of the topic.

Keywords: Behavioral manifestations; COVID-19; Cognitive disorders; Encephalopathy; Neurological complications.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Guan WJ, Νi ZY, Hu Y, Liang W, Ou C, He J, et al. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:1708–1720. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2002032. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huang C, Wang Y, Li X, Ren L, Zhao J, Hu Y, Zhang L, Fan G, Xu J, Gu X, Cheng Z, Yu T, Xia J, Wei Y, Wu W, Xie X, Yin W, Li H, Liu M, Xiao Y, Gao H, Guo L, Xie J, Wang G, Jiang R, Gao Z, Jin Q, Wang J, Cao B. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395:497–506. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30183-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gupta A, Mahesh V, Madhavan MV, Sehgal K, Nair N, Mahajan S, et al. Extrapulmonary manifestations of COVID-19. Nat Med. 2020;26:1017–1032. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-0968-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lai CC, Ko WC, Lee PI, Jean SS, Hsueh PR (2020) Extra-respiratory manifestations of COVID-19. Int J Antimicrob Agents 56. 10.1016/j.ijantimicag2020.106024 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baj J, Karakuła-Juchnowicz H, Teresiński G, Buszewicz G, Ciesielka M, Sitarz E, Forma A, Karakuła K, Flieger W, Portincasa P, Maciejewski R. COVID-19: specific and non-specific clinical manifestations and symptoms: the current state of knowledge. J Clin Med. 2020;9:1753. doi: 10.3390/jcm9061753. - DOI - PMC - PubMed