Neurological disorders in Post-COVID patients

ABSTRACT

Background and aims: The aim of the study is to identify the features of the lesions of the central nervous system in patients who have undergone coronavirus disease COVID-19. We examined 42 patients aged 32 to 54 years old after two to four months from the onset of COVID-19. In 20 patients, the infection was severe, in 11 patients was moderate, in 11 ones was in a mild form. There were no neurological disorders and vascular risk factors in these patients before COVID-19. Methods: Clinical and neurological, psychodiagnostic scales (MoCa MF1-20, HADS), neuroimaging, biochemical, statistical Results: In 95.2% of patients, neurocognitive impairments of various severity were revealed (the mean MoCA score was 22.01±0.22 points). All patients had asthenic syndrome, increased fatigue (the average score MF1-20 was 13.0 (12.5-14.0) points). The patients had anxiety-depressive symptoms according to the HADS (pathological anxiety 9.11±1.43;depression-6.71±1.55). Vestibular disorders were in 59.2%, cephalgic syndrome in 50%, hyposmia in 19% of patients. During 1-2 months after the onset of the viral infection five patients had ischemic strokes confirmed by neuroimaging. Of these, four patients had several ischemic nidi in the basal ganglia, neo cortex, in one patient stroke was caused by occlusion of a large vessel. In six patients, TIA in the carotid basin was registered. Conclusion: A frequent manifestation of the post-Covid syndrome is neurological disorders in the form of cognitive impairments, asthenic, anxiety-depressive syndromes, increased fatigue, ischemic strokes and TIA.