Clinical characteristics of 106 patients with neurological diseases and co-morbid coronavirus disease 2019: a retrospective study

ABSTRACT

ObjectivesTo describe the clinical characteristics of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with co-morbid neurological symptoms. DesignRetrospective case series. SettingHuoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China. ParticipantsFrom 4 February to 14 April 2020, 106 patients with neurological diseases were enrolled from all patients in the hospital with confirmed COVID-19 and divided into a severe group and a non-severe group according to their COVID-19 diagnosis. Main outcome measuresClinical characteristics, laboratory results, imaging findings, and treatment methods were all retrieved through an electronic medical records system and recorded in spreadsheets. ResultsThe mean (standard deviation, SD) age of patients was 72.7 (11.8) years, and 64 patients were male (60.4%). Among patients with co-morbid neurological diseases, 81 had a previous cerebral infarction (76.4%), 20 had dementia (18.9%), 10 had acute cerebral infarction (9.4%), 5 had sequelae of cerebral haemorrhage (4.7%), 4 had intracranial mass lesions (3.8%), 3 had epilepsy (2.8%), 2 had Parkinsons disease (1.9%), and 1 had myelopathy (0.9%). Fever (n = 62, 58.5%) was the most common symptom. The most common neurological symptoms were myalgia (n = 26, 24.5%), followed by extremity paralysis (n = 20, 18.9%), impaired consciousness (n = 17, 16%), and positive focal neurological signs (n = 42, 39.6%). Eight patients (7.5%) died. There were more patients with altered mental status in the severe group than in the non-severe group (6 [10.2%] vs. 0, P = 0.033). The inflammatory response in the severe group was more significant than that in the non-severe group. There were more patients taking anticoagulant drugs (25 [42.4%] vs. 4 [8.5%], P < 0.001) and sedative drugs (22 [37.3%] vs. 9 [19.1%], P = 0.041) in the severe group than in the non-severe group. Amid all 93 patients with cerebrovascular diseases, only 32 (34.4%) were taking aspirin, 13 (14%) taking clopidogrel, and 33 (35.5%) taking statins. ConclusionsPatients with COVID-19 with co-morbid neurological diseases had an advanced age, a high rate of severe illness, and a high mortality rate. Among the neurological symptoms, altered mental status was more common in patients with severe COVID-19 with co-morbid neurological diseases.