Clinical, Laboratory and Imaging Characteristics of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients with Neurologic Involvement; a Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: Although neurologic involvement and neuroimaging abnormalities have been frequently identified in COVID-19 patients, the underlying factors remain unclear. In this study, we assessed the association of the neurological manifestations and neuroimaging features of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with their clinical, laboratory, and imaging characteristics. Methods: This multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2020 and March 2021 at two large academic hospitals in Tehran, Iran. We used census sampling from medical records to enroll hospitalized patients with a positive COVID-19 Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test who underwent brain imaging due to presenting any acute neurologic symptom during hospital stay. Results: Of the 4372 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, only 211 met the inclusion criteria (35.5% with severe infection). Central nervous system and psychiatric manifestations were significantly more common in severe cases (p ≤ 0.044). Approximately, 30% had a new abnormality on their neuroimaging, with ischemic (38/63) and hemorrhagic (16/63) insults being the most common. The most frequent reasons that provoked cranial imaging were headache (27%), altered consciousness (25.6%), focal neurologic signs (19.9%), and delirium (18%). Analysis revealed a positive correlation for age, neutrophilia, lymphopenia, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) with the emergence of neuroimaging abnormalities (p ≤ 0.018). In addition, patients with new neuroimaging abnormalities had a significantly higher lung CT score than those without any pathologic findings (11.1 ± 4.8 vs. 5.9 ± 4.8, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Approximately 30% of the study population had various acute neuroimaging findings. The lung CT score, neutrophil count, and age were strong predictors of acute neuroimaging abnormalities in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Inflawell® improves neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and shortens hospitalization in patients with moderate COVID-19, in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial.

AIMS: COVID-19 is a significant global threat to public health. Despite the availability of vaccines and anti-viral drugs, there is an urgent need for alternative treatments to help prevent and/or manage COVID-19 symptoms and the underlying dysregulated immune response. We hypothesized that administration of Inflawell® syrup, a Boswellia extract formulation enriched for boswellic acids (BAs), can reduce the excessive or persistent inflammation and thereby prevent disease progression. BAs are medicinally activated triterpenoids found in the resins of Boswellia spp., and possess an immense therapeutic potential due to their anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory activities. We investigated the effect of Inflawell® syrup, on moderate COVID-19 patients along with the current standard of care treatment. METHODS: A randomized placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial was conducted, following definitive confirmation of COVID-19. Forty-seven hospitalized patients with moderate COVID-19 were enrolled and received either the Inflawell® syrup or placebo. Clinical symptoms and markers of inflammation were evaluated at baseline and completion of the trial. RESULTS: Our clinical trial revealed an increase in the percentage of oxygen saturation level in patients that received the BAs compared to placebo (P < 0.0001). In addition, the average duration of hospitalization was significantly shorter in the BAs group compared with the placebo group (P < 0.04). Concomitantly, some improvement in the clinical symptoms including cough, dyspnea, myalgia, headache, and olfactory and gustatory dysfunction were detected in the BAs group. Hematologic findings showed a significant decrease in the percentage of neutrophils (P < 0.006) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) levels (P < 0.003), associated with a significant increase in the percentage of lymphocytes in the BAs group compared with the placebo (P < 0.002). Additionally, a significant decrease in CRP, LDH, IL - 6 and TNF - α levels was detected in the BAs group. Following the intervention, fewer patients in the BAs group were PCR-positive for COVID-19 compared to placebo, though not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Overall, the treatment with Inflawell® resulted in shorter hospital stay, alleviation of COVID-19 clinical symptoms and decline in the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial has been registered in  https://www.irct.ir  with unique identifier: IRCT20170315033086N10 ( https://en.irct.ir/trial/51631 ). IRCT is a primary registry in the WHO registry network ( https://www.who.int/clinical-trials-registry-platform/network/primary-registries ).

Neurological Symptoms, Comorbidities, and Complications of COVID-19: A Literature Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.

BACKGROUND: Recently, it has been shown that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has caused a pandemic since December 2019, can be accompanied by some neurological disorders. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of the most common neurological symptoms and comorbidities and systematically review the literature regarding the most prevalent neurological complications of COVID-19 infection. METHODS: All relevant studies had been collected from PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science databases. All extracted data were analyzed using Stata version 11.2. The I2 index was applied, and a random-effects model or a fixed-effects model was used for pooled estimation to assess the heterogeneity of studies. Furthermore, Egger and Beeg's tests were used to evaluate the publication bias. RESULTS: Fifty-seven studies (26 observational and 31 case reports) were included (including 6,597 COVID-19 patients). The most prevalent general symptoms were fever, cough, and dyspnea with 84.6% (95% CI: 75.3-92.1; I2 = 98.7%), 61.3% (95% CI: 55.3-67.0; I2 = 94.6%), and 34.2% (95% CI: 25.6-43.4; I2 = 97.7%), respectively. Neurological symptoms observed among COVID-19 patients were fatigue, gustatory dysfunction, anorexia, olfactory dysfunction, headache, dizziness, and nausea with 42.9% (95% CI: 36.7-49.3; I2 = 92.8%), 35.4% (95% CI: 11.2-64.4; I2 = 99.2%), 28.9% (95% CI: 19.9-38.8; I2 = 96.3%), 25.3% (95% CI: 1.6-63.4; I2 = 99.6%), 10.1% (95% CI: 2.7-21.0; I2 = 99.1%), 6.7% (95% CI: 3.7-10.5; I2 = 87.5%), and 5.9% (95% CI: 3.1-9.5; I2 = 94.5%). The most prevalent neurological comorbidity in COVID-19 was cerebrovascular disease with 4.3% (95% CI: 2.7-6.3; I2 = 78.7%). CONCLUSION: The most prevalent neurological manifestations of COVID-19 include fatigue, gustatory dysfunction, anorexia, olfactory dysfunction, headache, dizziness, and nausea. Cerebrovascular disorders can either act as a risk factor for poorer prognosis in COVID-19 patients or occur as a critical complication in these patients. Guillain-Barre syndrome, encephalitis, and meningitis have also been reported as complications of COVID-19.

Neurological manifestations as the predictors of severity and mortality in hospitalized individuals with COVID-19: a multicenter prospective clinical study.

BACKGROUNDS: The reports of neurological symptoms are increasing in cases with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This multi-center prospective study was conducted to determine the incidence of neurological manifestations in hospitalized cases with COVID-19 and assess these symptoms as the predictors of severity and death. METHODS: Hospitalized males and females with COVID-19 who aged over 18 years were included in the study. They were examined by two neurologists at the time of admission. All survived cases were followed for 8 weeks after discharge and 16 weeks if their symptoms had no improvements. RESULTS: We included 873 participants. Of eligible cases, 122 individuals (13.97%) died during hospitalization. The most common non-neurological manifestations were fever (81.1%), cough (76.1%), fatigue (36.1%), and shortness of breath (27.6%). Aging, male gender, co-morbidity, smoking, hemoptysis, chest tightness, and shortness of breath were associated with increased odds of severe cases and/or mortality. There were 561 (64.3%) cases with smell and taste dysfunctions (hyposmia: 58.6%; anosmia: 41.4%; dysguesia: 100%). They were more common among females (69.7%) and non-smokers (66.7%). Hyposmia/anosmia and dysgeusia were found to be associated with reduced odds of severe cases and mortality. Myalgia (24.8%), headaches (12.6%), and dizziness (11.9%) were other common neurological symptoms. Headaches had negative correlation with severity and death due to COVID-19 but myalgia and dizziness were not associated. The cerebrovascular events (n = 10) and status epilepticus (n = 1) were other neurological findings. The partial or full recovery of smell and taste dysfunctions was found in 95.2% after 8 weeks and 97.3% after 16 weeks. The parosmia (30.9%) and phantosmia (9.0%) were also reported during 8 weeks of follow-up. Five cases with mild headaches and 5 cases with myalgia were reported after 16 weeks of discharge. The demyelinating myelitis (n = 1) and Guillain-Barré syndrome (n = 1) were also found during follow-up. CONCLUSION: Neurological symptoms were found to be prevalent among individuals with COVID-19 disease and should not be under-estimated during the current pandemic outbreak.