Neurologic Manifestations of Hospitalized Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, China

Authors

Ling Mao, Department of Neurology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Huijuan Jin, Department of Neurology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Mengdie Wang, Department of Neurology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Yu Hu, Department of Hematology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Shengcai Chen, Department of Neurology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Quanwei He, Department of Neurology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Jiang Chang, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Candong Hong, Department of Neurology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Yifan Zhou, Department of Neurology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
David Wang, Neurovascular Division, Department of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute, Saint Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona.Follow
Xiaoping Miao, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Yanan Li, Department of Neurology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Bo Hu, Department of Neurology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Document Type

Article

Abstract

IMPORTANCE: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China, is serious and has the potential to become an epidemic worldwide. Several studies have described typical clinical manifestations including fever, cough, diarrhea, and fatigue. However, to our knowledge, it has not been reported that patients with COVID-19 had any neurologic manifestations. OBJECTIVE: To study the neurologic manifestations of patients with COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This is a retrospective, observational case series. Data were collected from January 16, 2020, to February 19, 2020, at 3 designated special care centers for COVID-19 (Main District, West Branch, and Tumor Center) of the Union Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China. The study included 214 consecutive hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Clinical data were extracted from electronic medical records, and data of all neurologic symptoms were checked by 2 trained neurologists. Neurologic manifestations fell into 3 categories: central nervous system manifestations (dizziness, headache, impaired consciousness, acute cerebrovascular disease, ataxia, and seizure), peripheral nervous system manifestations (taste impairment, smell impairment, vision impairment, and nerve pain), and skeletal muscular injury manifestations. RESULTS: Of 214 patients (mean [SD] age, 52.7 [15.5] years; 87 men [40.7%]) with COVID-19, 126 patients (58.9%) had nonsevere infection and 88 patients (41.1%) had severe infection according to their respiratory status. Overall, 78 patients (36.4%) had neurologic manifestations. Compared with patients with nonsevere infection, patients with severe infection were older, had more underlying disorders, especially hypertension, and showed fewer typical symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever and cough. Patients with more severe infection had neurologic manifestations, such as acute cerebrovascular diseases (5 [5.7%] vs 1 [0.8%]), impaired consciousness (13 [14.8%] vs 3 [2.4%]), and skeletal muscle injury (17 [19.3%] vs 6 [4.8%]). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Patients with COVID-19 commonly have neurologic manifestations. During the epidemic period of COVID-19, when seeing patients with neurologic manifestations, clinicians should suspect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection as a differential diagnosis to avoid delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis and lose the chance to treat and prevent further transmission.

Medical Subject Headings

Adult; Aged; Betacoronavirus; COVID-19; China (epidemiology); Coronavirus Infections (blood, diagnosis, epidemiology); Female; Hospitalization (trends); Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Nervous System Diseases (blood, diagnosis, epidemiology); Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral (blood, diagnosis, epidemiology); Retrospective Studies; SARS-CoV-2

Publication Date

6-1-2020

Publication Title

JAMA neurology

E-ISSN

2168-6157

Volume

77

Issue

6

First Page

683

Last Page

690

PubMed ID

32275288

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1001/jamaneurol.2020.1127

Recommended Citation

Mao, Ling; Jin, Huijuan; Wang, Mengdie; Hu, Yu; Chen, Shengcai; He, Quanwei; Chang, Jiang; Hong, Candong; Zhou, Yifan; Wang, David; Miao, Xiaoping; Li, Yanan; and Hu, Bo, "Neurologic Manifestations of Hospitalized Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, China" (2020). Neurology. 1804.
https://scholar.barrowneuro.org/neurology/1804