Occurrence of brain vascular accident in COVID-19: integrative review

ABSTRACT

Introduction: In late 2019, several cases of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were diagnosed in Wuhan, China, and then also diagnosed in other regions of the world, creating a global pandemic. Stroke is a heterogeneous syndrome comprising several pathophysiological mechanisms, many of which appear to be influenced by SARS-CoV-2 infection. This review article was developed to summarize information on the relationship between stroke and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methodology:This is an integrative literature review. Data collection took place in December 2021 and January 2022 in the following databases PubMed, Scielo and LILACS. To search for articles, the descriptors "COVID-19" were used;"cerebrovascular accident" and "cerebral ischemia", combined by Boolean operators. Results and discussion: Patients with COVID-19 who had stroke had more severe conditions, longer hospitalizations, higher mortality, but had comorbidities similar to patients who had stroke without the presence of SARS-COV-2 viral infection. Final considerationsWith this study, it is possible to conclude that more articles are needed that faithfully seek the relationship between COVID-19 and CVA. To date, studies have shown a greater number of strokes related to severe cases of COVID-19, with higher mortality and longer hospital stays. Confounding factors need to be considered, such as age and more prevalent comorbidities in the populations studied.