Corona: these are the five most common neurological consequences of Covid-19

These are the five most common neurological consequences of Covid-19

The virus is outside the body, but symptoms persist, weeks or even months in some cases. Current studies show which neurological problems are most common after a corona infection.

Melanie Weiner / t-online

Already at the beginning of the corona pandemic it became known that Covid-19 disease not only affects the respiratory tract, but can also cause a wide range of neurological symptoms and side effects. Numerous case reports and studies show that neurological symptoms occur in the course of the disease. In addition to taste and smell disorders, headaches, muscle aches and the so-called fatigue syndrome (permanent exhaustion and exhaustion) are typical.

Also, according to the German Society for Neurology (DGN), so-called encephalopathies (disorders of consciousness and disorders of brain functions) occur quite often, especially with severe courses. Delirium is a symptom of Covid-19, especially in older people, according to the DGN. Life-threatening neurological complications can also occur during or immediately after Covid 19 disease, including strokes or Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Long-term consequences of Covid-19: from fatigue to shortness of breath

Even after recovering from Covid 19, many people do not feel healthy. They continue to complain primarily of neurological symptoms, according to studies. According to the DGN, the duration of individual Covid 19 episodes varies greatly from patient to patient. Usually, they are several weeks and months.

A Dutch-Belgian study evaluated the persistent symptoms of 2,113 patients with Covid 19 three months after the onset of the disease. 112 of them were treated as inpatients. During the acute illness, 95 percent of the test subjects suffered fatigue, 3 months later – 87 percent. This made fatigue the most common complication and the long-term consequence even more common than shortness of breath.

An article published in “Nature Communications” confirmed this result. Even weeks after Covid 19 disease, most patients had long-term symptoms. Most common for:

• Fatigue
• Pain
• difficulty breathing
• Runny / runny nose

Sleep disturbances, memory problems, and difficulty concentrating were also common. The surprising thing: neurological symptoms appear to be particularly persistent and long-lasting in Covid-19 patients who had a severe course of infectious disease. Complaints were also filed with mild courses.

Long-term neurological effects need more research

The DGN sees a great need for research due to the frequency and severity of neurological symptoms. “In summary, long-term neurological effects affect a high proportion of Covid 19 patients and we have to provide neurological follow-up care for these people. In many of those affected, neurological symptoms improve over time, but we also have patients who became ill in the first wave of the pandemic in the spring of 2020 and are still not symptom-free, ”explains Professor Peter Berlit, Secretary General of the DGN.

Since Covid-19 is a new type of disease, the causes of symptoms and long-term effects must be clarified in order to be able to do something about neurological complaints, says Berlit.

To investigate the long-term consequences, a working group called “Neurology in the National Network of Pandemic Cohorts” (NAPKON) was established. Of particular importance is the question of whether viral disease can also damage long-term cognition or even promote the development of secondary neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, in old age. However, there will only be truly reliable answers to these questions in a few years, or even decades.