Severe Neurological Ailments Reported in COVID-19 Patients

A survey of hospitalized patients finds some suffer fatigue, ischemic stroke, delirium, and other symptoms.

Written byLisa Winter

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Although respiratory distress is the predominant complication of COVID-19, there are also rare, yet serious, neurological ailments that may arise. A survey of UK hospitals found that some patients also experience strokes, dementia-like symptoms, and delirium. The findings were published on June 25 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Throughout April, neurologists in the United Kingdom used databases to find 125 hospitalized patients who tested positive for COVID-19 and also experienced certain neurological afflictions. More than half of the patients suffered a cerebrovascular event, with 57 patients enduring an ischemic stroke, while nine had an intracerebral hemorrhage.

“These relatively rare but incredibly severe complications get missed, like needles in a haystack,” Benedict Michael, a neurologist at the University of Liverpool and senior author of the paper, tells Science News. “Now that we know the rough idea of the scale of this, we desperately need research that gets to ...

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Meet the Author

Lisa Winter
Lisa joined The Scientist in 2017. As social media editor, some of her duties include creating content, managing interactions, and developing strategies for the brand’s social media presence. She also contributes to the News & Opinion section of the website. Lisa holds a degree in Biological Sciences with a concentration in genetics, cell, and developmental biology from Arizona State University and has worked in science communication since 2012.
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