Autonomic dysfunction in non-critically ill COVID-19 patients during the acute phase of disease: an observational, cross-sectional study.
Neurol Sci
; 43(8): 4635-4643, 2022 Aug.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1859006
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Evidence is emerging about an extra-pulmonary involvement of SARS-CoV-2, including the nervous system. Autonomic dysfunction in patients recovering from acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been recently described. Dysautonomic symptoms have been reported in the acute phase of the disease, but clear evidence is lacking, especially in the non-critical forms of the infection.OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of dysautonomia in acute, non-critically ill COVID-19 patients.METHODS:
In this observational, cross-sectional study, we compared 38 non-critically ill patients with acute COVID-19 (COVID + group) to 38 healthy volunteers (COVID - group) in order to assess the prevalence of signs and symptoms of dysautonomia through the administration of the composite autonomic symptom score 31 (COMPASS-31) and an active standing test. Comparisons between groups were performed by means of both univariate and multivariate analyses.RESULTS:
The prevalence of orthostatic hypotension was significantly higher in the COVID + group. Higher total scores of COMPASS-31 were observed in the COVID + group than controls. Significant differences between groups emerged in the secretomotor, orthostatic intolerance, and gastrointestinal COMPASS-31 domains. All these results maintained the statistical significance after the adjustment for concomitant drugs with a known effect on the autonomic nervous system assumed by the study participants, except for the differences in the gastrointestinal domain of COMPASS-31.CONCLUSION:
Our results suggest that an autonomic dysfunction could be an early manifestation of COVID-19, even in the contest of mild forms of the infection.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Autonomic Nervous System Diseases
/
Orthostatic Intolerance
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Neurol Sci
Journal subject:
Neurology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S10072-022-06136-2
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