ABSTRACT
Introduction: Since the beginning of the pandemic caused by SARS-Cov-2, we have observed an increase of patients referred for electroneuromyography (ENMG) studies complaining of neuropathic symptoms, and who share in common having suffered from the disease by coronavirus (Covid-19), in its different forms of presentation. Clinical, diagnostic, and epidemiological studies that identify possible risk factors of peripheral neuropathies are needed. Method(s): Retrospective and prospective multicenter study in which neurophysiologists from 10 Andalusian hospitals are currently participating. The risk factors analyzed are age, sex, date of infection, date of onset symptoms in relation to Covid infection, hospital admission, admission to intensive unit care (IUC), time of admission, prone position, if orotracheal intubation needed, body mass index (BMI), personal history of interest, if previously vaccinated and complications. The observed peripheral nervous system involvement, caused both directly and indirectly by the virus, has been taken into account. Result(s): A total of 73 patients with neuropathic involvement. Of this total, 39 polyneuropathies (11 Guillain-Barre syndrome, 1 small fiber and 27 other critical illness polyneuropathies associated with IUC patients, 1 of these with associated myopathy), 13 peroneal neuropathies (4 unilateral, 1 with suprascapular neuropathy concomitant and 7 bilateral), 7 brachial plexopathies, 5 neuropathies of the superior laryngeal nerve (3 with concomitant involvement of the inferior) in patients with a history of orotracheal intubation, 2 neuropathies of the femorocutaneous nerve, 2 mononeuritis multiplex, 2 phrenic neuropathies, 1 vagus nerve neuropathy with no history of orotracheal intubation, 2 axillary neuropathies (1 with associated spinal neuropathy). Conclusion(s): Covid-19 causes involvement of the peripheral nervous system. Possible risk factors include male gender, old age, longer hospital stay, IUC admission, orotracheal intubation, prone position, suffering from previous pathologies, and high BMI. The possible causes that we consider for neuropathic involvement are compressive and positional (more indirectly related to the disease) and inflammatory / immune-mediated as the most direct cause of involvement caused by the SARS-Cov-2 virus. Knowledge of the risk factors is important, for the prevention, early diagnosis, and the correct treatment of these neuropathies. Some patients are left with serious neurological sequelae, with the consequences that this entails (high social and economic costs). Copyright © 2022