Neurological Manifestations and Clinical Outcomes of Patients with COVID-19 in the Aseer Region, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

COVID-19 patients also present with rheumatological problems, cardiac problems, and even neurological manifestations. However, the data are still insufficient at present to fill the gaps in our understanding of the neurological presentations of COVID-19. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to reveal the various neurological manifestations of patients with COVID-19 and to find the association between neurological manifestations and the clinical outcome. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Abha, in the Aseer region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, among COVID-19 patients aged 18 years or older who were admitted with the neurological manifestations of COVID-19 to the Aseer Central Hospital and Heart Center Hospital Abha. Non-probability convenient sampling was used. All the information was gathered by the principal investigator using a questionnaire including sociodemographic information, disease characteristics of COVID-19, neurological manifestations, and other complications. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 16.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). A total of 55 patients were included in the present study. About half of the patients were admitted to the ICU, and 18 (62.1%) patients died after 1 month of follow-up. Patients aged over 60 years had a 75% mortality rate. About 66.66% of patients with pre-existing neurological disorders died. Statistically significant associations were found between neurological symptoms such as cranial nerve symptoms and a poor outcome. A statistically significant difference was also found between laboratory parameters such as the absolute neutrophil count (ANC), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), total cholesterol (TC), creatinine, urea, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level and the outcome. A statistically significant difference was also found between the use of medications such as antiplatelets, anticoagulants, and statins at the baseline and after a 1-month follow-up. Neurological symptoms and complications are not uncommon among COVID-19 patients. Most of these patients had poor outcomes. Further studies are required to provide more data and knowledge about this issue, including the possible risk factors and the long-term neurological consequences of COVID-19.

Neurological manifestations and complications of COVID-19 in patients admitted to a tertiary care center in Nepal during the second wave

“…Some studies have shown that outcomes were worse and ICU admissions were higher in those with neurological manifestations and/or complications than in those without neurological manifestations/complications, [10–13] which contrasts with this study. The contrasting results in these previous studies might be due to the presence of established neurological predictors of poorer outcomes more frequently than in our study; for example, in the study by Cho et al, 20% of patients had altered mental status.…”

“…Some articles have broadly (without looking into specific neurological manifestations or complications) described neurological manifestations as important predictors of worse outcomes, including mortality. [10][11][12][13] Other studies have focused on particular neurological manifestations and complications and found altered mental status and stroke to be the major neurological conditions associated with COVID-19 to predict worse outcomes and mortality in COVID-19 patients. [14][15][16] This article aims to discuss the neurological manifestations of COVID-19 and their association with outcomes in patients admitted to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, representing the first study of its kind in Nepal.…”