Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (May 2020)

Influence of COVID-19 on Cerebrovascular Disease and its Possible Mechanism

  • Fan H,
  • Tang X,
  • Song Y,
  • Liu P,
  • Chen Y

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 16
pp. 1359 – 1367

Abstract

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Hongyang Fan,1,2,* Xiaojia Tang,2,3,* Yuxia Song,2,3,* Peipei Liu,1,2 Yingzhu Chen1,2 1Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Neurology, Northern Jiangsu Province Hospital, Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Neurology, Clinical Medical College of Yangzhou, Dalian Medical University, Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yingzhu Chen; Peipei Liu Email [email protected]; [email protected]: The global spread of COVID-19 has caused a substantial societal burden and become a major global public health issue. The COVID-19 elderly population with hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular diseases are at risk. Mortality rates are highest in these individuals if infected with COVID-19. Although the lungs are the main organs involved in acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by COVID-19 infection, COVID-19 triggers inflammatory and immune mechanisms, inducing a “cytokine storm” that aggravates disease progression and may lead to death. Presently, effective drugs are lacking, although current studies have confirmed that drugs with therapeutic potential include redaciclovir, lopinavir/ritonavir combined with interferon-β, convalescent plasma, and monoclonal antibodies. Currently, the most reasonable and effective way to prevent COVID-19 is to control the source of infection, terminate routes of transmission, and protect susceptible populations. With the rise of COVID-19 in China and worldwide, further prevention, diagnosis, and treatment measures are a critical unmet need. Cerebrovascular disease has high incidence, disability rate, and fatality rate. COVID-19 patient outcomes may also be complicated with acute stroke. This paper summarizes the influence of COVID-19 on cerebrovascular disease and discusses possible pathophysiological mechanisms to provide new angles for the prevention and diagnosis of this disease.Keywords: novel coronavirus pneumonia, 2019-nCoV, SARS-CoV-2, cerebral vascular disease

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