Neurological complications in patients after COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has an affinity mainly for alveolar epithelial cells and can affect other cells in the body, which justifies the impairment of the digestive, cardiovascular, and nervous systems. Neurons and glial cells are potentially affected by the virus, so the nervous system becomes a target of the pathogen, causing damage or neurological changes. Objective: To verify the neurological complications in post-COVID-19 patients and their association with clinical complications, length of hospitalization, origin, and comorbidities. Method: This is a descriptive observational study, carried out in the COVID-19 wards of the University Hospital of the Federal University of Maranhão, based on the analysis of data from 162 medical records of patients diagnosed with COVID-19, from March 2020 to March 2022. The IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results: The sample consisted of 162 medical records, whose patients had a higher prevalence of age between 30 and 39 years and brown ethnicity (61.1%). Stroke was the most frequent (45%) and tetraparesis (50%) was the most prevalent motor sequelae. These complications were significantly associated with increased hospital stay and clinical complications. Conclusion: Stroke and polyneuropathy were the most prevalent neurological complications in patients with COVID-19, and clinical complications and the total hospital and ward stay were significantly associated with such neurological complications.