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Título

Neurological manifestations of long-term COVID-19 in patients with Sars-Cov-2 infection: descriptive study

Resumo

Introduction: The clinical scenery of COVID-19 was initially described as a respiratory infection with possible severe and systemic manifestations. Studies point to chronic complications that affect neurological system of patients infected with the virus. Complaints may appear after the period of acute infection, with persistent and prolonged neurological manifestations being perceived.Objectives: To investigate, in a population sample from the State of RJ, the frequency of different types of neurological manifestations after COVID-19 infection and their medium and long-term outcomes.Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study carried out in an outpatient clinic for post-COVID-19 neurological manifestations of an university hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro. A total of 233 patients were analyzed from September 2020 to April 2022 using socio demographic questionnaires to collect clinical-epidemiological data, including gender, age, comorbidities, time of onset of symptoms, most prevalent complaints in the acute phase, hospitalization, complications and possible neurological manifestations of long-term COVID-19 in patients with SARS COV-2 infection.Results: Among the 233 patients evaluated, 182 were women and 51 were men. In addition, the mean age was 33.97 years (RI: 18 to 72) and 45.92% of them had comorbidities, the most prevalent being obesity (20.06%), followed by systemic arterial hypertension (18.45% ) and diabetes mellitus (10.42%). The mean time between symptom onset and assessment was 7.45 months (RI: 1 to 25). The main symptoms in the acute phase of the disease were, respectively, fatigue (79.39%), anosmia (68.66%), headache (67.38%) and ageusia (64.37%). In addition, 93.13% did not need hospitalization. It is noteworthy that 78.54% of the sample remained with some symptoms in the chronic phase of the disease, namely chronic fatigue (43.20%), cognitive deficit (42.06%), anosmia/hyposmia (38.19%), ageusia /hypogeusia (33.04%) the most relevant. Conclusion: The prevalence of the neurological condition in the acute phase of the disease was remarkable in the results presented. It is also worth mentioning that the main symptoms throughout the period after infection by the virus were predominantly neurological, with the most frequent being fatigue, anosmia, ageusia and cognitive deficit. Thus, it is evident the need for more studies that can improve the biopsychosocial impact that these late manifestations can have on the patient's life.

Palavras Chave

COVID-19