Neurological manifestations in patients with COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic represents a challenge for healthcare systems, due to the impact on different systems, such as respiratory, cardiovascular and nervous systems. Objective: to describe the neurological manifestations in patients with COVID-19. Methods: a search for information was carried out in the PubMed/Medline, SciELO, EBSCO, Lilacs and Scopus databases. A search strategy was applied by combining terms and using Boolean operators. Thirty references were chosen. Results: olfactory nerves and invasion of peripheral nerve terminals are suggested as routes of entry; the presence of severe neural symptoms associated with lesions of other organs and cytokine storm is also described. Headache was the most common neurological manifestation in patients with COVID-19, and rhabdomyolysis, acute hemorrhagic necrotizing encephalopathy, Guillain Barré syndrome, meningitis and encephalitis are rare neurological entities. In Guillain Barré syndrome, the literature suggests both a post infectious and para-infectious pattern. Conclusions: COVID-19 is associated with different neurological manifestations, including headache, dizziness, vertigo, vomiting, and alterations of consciousness, stroke and others not so frequent. These symptoms as a whole should be evaluated by healthcare personnel, with a view to their rapid detection and management, in order to guarantee the disappearance of sequelae that reduce the quality of life of patients, as well as to reduce the associated mortality records.

Keywords

• covid-19
• sars-cov-2
• enfermedades del sistema nervioso