Cargando…

The Frequency of Neurological Symptoms in COVID-19 Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan

Introduction Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) primarily affects the pulmonary system and presents itself as shortness of breath, fever, and cough. However, it may affect other systems as well, including the nervous system. This study aimed to determine the frequency of neurological symptoms in CO...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Makda, Aamir, Kumar, Sagar, Kumar, Ajay, Kumar, Vinesh, Rizwan, Amber
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cureus 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7549861/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33062483
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.10360
_version_ 1783592863989235712
author Makda, Aamir
Kumar, Sagar
Kumar, Ajay
Kumar, Vinesh
Rizwan, Amber
author_facet Makda, Aamir
Kumar, Sagar
Kumar, Ajay
Kumar, Vinesh
Rizwan, Amber
author_sort Makda, Aamir
collection PubMed
description Introduction Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) primarily affects the pulmonary system and presents itself as shortness of breath, fever, and cough. However, it may affect other systems as well, including the nervous system. This study aimed to determine the frequency of neurological symptoms in COVID-19 patients and its association with the severity of the disease. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted at a public sector tertiary care teaching hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, from April to July 2020. All patients with positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were included, except those with pre-existing neurological and psychiatric conditions. Results The most common neurological symptom was dizziness (17.5%), followed by headache (15.7%). Three (2.6%) patients had a stroke. Nine (7.8%) participants had a taste impairment, and another nine (7.8%) had a smell impairment. There was no significant difference in the frequency of neurological symptoms when severe and non-severe disease was compared. Conclusion Neurological symptoms are frequent in COVID-19. Care should be taken to identify them early. COVID-19 should be suspected in patients presenting with neurological abnormalities and should be included in the differential diagnosis to prevent further virus transmission.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7549861
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher Cureus
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-75498612020-10-13 The Frequency of Neurological Symptoms in COVID-19 Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan Makda, Aamir Kumar, Sagar Kumar, Ajay Kumar, Vinesh Rizwan, Amber Cureus Internal Medicine Introduction Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) primarily affects the pulmonary system and presents itself as shortness of breath, fever, and cough. However, it may affect other systems as well, including the nervous system. This study aimed to determine the frequency of neurological symptoms in COVID-19 patients and its association with the severity of the disease. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted at a public sector tertiary care teaching hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, from April to July 2020. All patients with positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were included, except those with pre-existing neurological and psychiatric conditions. Results The most common neurological symptom was dizziness (17.5%), followed by headache (15.7%). Three (2.6%) patients had a stroke. Nine (7.8%) participants had a taste impairment, and another nine (7.8%) had a smell impairment. There was no significant difference in the frequency of neurological symptoms when severe and non-severe disease was compared. Conclusion Neurological symptoms are frequent in COVID-19. Care should be taken to identify them early. COVID-19 should be suspected in patients presenting with neurological abnormalities and should be included in the differential diagnosis to prevent further virus transmission. Cureus 2020-09-10 /pmc/articles/PMC7549861/ /pubmed/33062483 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.10360 Text en Copyright © 2020, Makda et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Internal Medicine
Makda, Aamir
Kumar, Sagar
Kumar, Ajay
Kumar, Vinesh
Rizwan, Amber
The Frequency of Neurological Symptoms in COVID-19 Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan
title The Frequency of Neurological Symptoms in COVID-19 Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan
title_full The Frequency of Neurological Symptoms in COVID-19 Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan
title_fullStr The Frequency of Neurological Symptoms in COVID-19 Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan
title_full_unstemmed The Frequency of Neurological Symptoms in COVID-19 Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan
title_short The Frequency of Neurological Symptoms in COVID-19 Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan
title_sort frequency of neurological symptoms in covid-19 patients at a tertiary care hospital in pakistan
topic Internal Medicine
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7549861/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33062483
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.10360
work_keys_str_mv AT makdaaamir thefrequencyofneurologicalsymptomsincovid19patientsatatertiarycarehospitalinpakistan
AT kumarsagar thefrequencyofneurologicalsymptomsincovid19patientsatatertiarycarehospitalinpakistan
AT kumarajay thefrequencyofneurologicalsymptomsincovid19patientsatatertiarycarehospitalinpakistan
AT kumarvinesh thefrequencyofneurologicalsymptomsincovid19patientsatatertiarycarehospitalinpakistan
AT rizwanamber thefrequencyofneurologicalsymptomsincovid19patientsatatertiarycarehospitalinpakistan
AT makdaaamir frequencyofneurologicalsymptomsincovid19patientsatatertiarycarehospitalinpakistan
AT kumarsagar frequencyofneurologicalsymptomsincovid19patientsatatertiarycarehospitalinpakistan
AT kumarajay frequencyofneurologicalsymptomsincovid19patientsatatertiarycarehospitalinpakistan
AT kumarvinesh frequencyofneurologicalsymptomsincovid19patientsatatertiarycarehospitalinpakistan
AT rizwanamber frequencyofneurologicalsymptomsincovid19patientsatatertiarycarehospitalinpakistan