News Scan for May 04, 2022

Neurologic illness may affect 1 in 8 hospitalized COVID-19 patientsNearly 13% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients had serious neurologic illnesses in the first year of the pandemic, suggests an international study published last week in Critical Care Explorations.The observational study, led by Boston University researchers, analyzed data from 179 hospitals in 24 countries participating in the Society of Critical Care Medicine's COVID-19 registry from Mar 25, 2020, to Mar 9, 2021.Among the 16,225 patients enrolled in the registry whose hospital release status was available, 12.9% had serious neurologic illnesses, of whom 10.2% had encephalopathy (disease affecting brain structure or function) at admission, 2.0% had a stroke, 1.5% had seizures, and 0.5% had encephalopathy or meningitis (inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord) at admission or during their hospital stay.Patients with these illnesses were older than those without (median, 72 vs 61 years) and had a higher prevalence of underlying conditions, including serious vascular risk factors and a history of stroke or neurologic disorders.

After adjustment for age, sex, and time since the pandemic began, serious neurologic illnesses were tied to more severe disease (odds ratio [OR], 1.49).COVID-19 patients with neurologic illnesses were more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) (OR, 1.45) and need extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (OR, 1.78) and dialysis (OR, 1.99).Odds of hospitalization, ICU stay, and death by 28 days were higher among patients with neurologic manifestations (OR, 1.51, 1.37, and 1.58, respectively).