Neurological and Psychiatric Symptoms of COVID-19

Neurological and Psychiatric Symptoms of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the physical and mental health of many worldwide. Social isolation, work-life changes, and the socioeconomic effects of the pandemic have fundamentally changed the way many people live.  
By now it is apparent that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for COVID-19 disease, causes severe respiratory dysfunction (i.e., breathing problems) in a substantial number of individuals with acute infection. In addition to cardiopulmonary issues, there are a variety of acute and chronic neurological and neuropsychiatric sequelae that have been reported. 
SARS-CoV-2 virus enters the nervous system through the olfactory (smell) and the circulatory (blood) routes. Active central nervous system (CNS) infection, environmental stress, financial stress, social isolation, loss of independence, and changes in family relational dynamics all contribute directly and indirectly to the neuropsychiatric sequalae of COVD-19 infection.
It is important to note that individuals with pre-existing neurological and psychiatric disorders are at higher risk for developing the symptoms listed below.
Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of COVID-19
  • Fatigue
  • Memory problems
  • Concentration problems
  • Insomnia
  • Irritability
  • Apathy
  • Depression
  • Mania, Hypomania
  • Anxiety, Fear, Panic attacks
  • Post-Traumatic Stress
  • Psychosis
  • Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms
  • Suicide
  • Grief, Guilt, Helplessness
Neurological Sequelae of COVID-19
  • Dysgeusia (taste dysfunction)
  • Anosmia (olfactory dysfunction)
  • Dizziness
  • Headache
  • Altered Mentation
  • Delirium
  • Confusion
  • Encephalopathy
  • Cerebrovascular disease
  • Ischemic stroke
  • Cerebral venous thrombosis
  • Hemorrhagic stroke
  • Encephalitis
  • Neuromuscular dysfunction
  • Neuropathy
  • Myoclonus
  • Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS)
  • Miller-Fisher variant
  • Seizures
  • Cranial Nerve involvement

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