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Writer's pictureDr. Chitra Jothinathan

Is there any prevalence of Neurological conditions post Covid-19?

Updated: Aug 10



COVID-19 has affected the population’s health worldwide, first and foremost, infecting people with acute respiratory distress syndrome but, at the same time, it has long-term health complications in some cases. But over the years, among all the long-term complications the neurological disorders were found to be more problematic. COVID-19 manifests itself in respiratory disease, but since its emergence, multiple reports of neurological manifestations of the post-viral condition have made this connection. 


Correlation of COVID 19 and Neurological Disorders 

COVID-19 has been believed to affect the nervous system through direct viral invasion across the blood-brain barrier, Immune-mediated harm, and severe inflammation affecting the affected organ, which is the brain. Some investigations have pointed out neurological manifestations in patients suffering from COVID-19 during the first weeks of the disease as headaches, dizziness and loss of smell or taste.


Far more worrisome though are the neurological manifestations that seem to occur, or emerge in the aftermath of the acute phase of the illness; now christened as ‘long COVID’ or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). 


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Epidemiological Incidence of Neurological Complications After COVID-19 

In this paper, several prior researches focused on the occurrence of neurological complication among post-COVID-19 survivors. These symptoms which are mild sometimes reach severe stages and some of the common ones are fatigue, brain fog, memory issues, and poor concentration. At times it has called for severe diseases like stroke, encephalitis and even GBS or Guillain-Barré syndrome. The paper published in Lancet Psychiatry reports that almost a third of covid patients are diagnosed with neurological or psychiatric conditions within half a year after infection. 

 

Furthermore, various studies have shown that COVID-19 might actually cause an aggravation of pre-existing neurological disorders. For example, patients with such diseases as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s, epilepsy can experience worsening of their disease state because of the effect of the virus on the nervous system, or due to the stress experienced when infected by an illness.



Long-Term Neurological Consequences 

Several long-term neurological manifestations of COVID-19 are still under discussion today, however, initial information shows that some patients can have symptoms for months or years after being infected. This has led to anxiety that there will be point of excessively high demand for health care, particularly complimentary neurological care, and subsequent rehabilitation among patients. 

 

Difficulty in determining how many people have such problems stems from two sources: the essentially postviral neurological symptoms are diverse, and little consensus exists on formal diagnostic criteria for COVID-19 neurological complications. Most of the reported long COVID signs and symptoms are rather general and may be explained by stress, anxiety or, for instance, outcomes of a lengthy hospital stay. This complicates the assessment of how many cases are related to actual neurological disorders connected with COVID-19. 

 

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It is pivotal that the medical community keeps on analysing the long-term impacts of Covid-19 towards people’s neurological system as this area is still without enough data. This encompasses research that aims at ascertaining how COVID-19 influences the nervous system, and or research with regards to the right remedies and recovery measures for patients with neurological complications following COVID-19 infection. 


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Meanwhile, healthcare physicians should closely watch out for cases of neurologic manifestations among COVID-19 survivors and give them the needed professional attention and care. In particular, invested efforts in the early stage and rehabilitation can possibly reduce the extent of harm these conditions cause and enhance patients’ quality of life. 

 

Conclusion 

The subject of neurological conditions occurring after COVID-19 is multifaceted and is still under development. Ideally, COVID-19 has shown that it can affect the nervous system in many ways although the extent of this impact is still revealing. Consequently, the strategies for prevention, detection and management of neurological sequelae after COVID should be established, in the course of more research is being undertaken on this topic. 


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