The way of Reuters bond the Science Communication
A preliminary study has diagnosed brain disease, stroke, and psychosis in some patients hospitalized with severe cases of Covid-19.
The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, is the first systematic review of suspected complications caused by the coronavirus in the brain.
The study is small and may only show a correlation between the diseases, no causal relationship. Nevertheless, the study provides important data for future research.
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A preliminary study found evidence of a possible link between brain complications, such as strokes and psychoses, with severe courses of Covid-19.
The researchers evaluated data from patients treated with Covid-19 in hospitals across the UK in April when the country saw a continuing spike in reported infections.
They found that neurological and psychiatric disorders appeared to be increasing in parallel with the increase in Covid 19 cases in the country.
The study, which was published in the British medical journal “The Lancet Psychiatry”, has only a small sample with a total of 153 cases.
Most cases of stroke and psychosis in the elderly
The researchers only looked at cases in which brain disorders were already diagnosed and did not attempt to determine how often such disorders occurred overall in Covid 19 patients. Nevertheless, the researchers described the data as valuable and called for in-depth research into this correlation.
The study included 125 cases. Of these, 77 patients had strokes and 39 suffered from changes in mental states such as confusion or psychiatric states such as delusions. The scientists found that some of these conditions may have existed before Covid-19 appeared, but may not have been diagnosed.
Although most cases of stroke and psychosis occurred in the elderly, younger patients were “disproportionately overrepresented” in their sample, the scientists wrote.
First systematic review
Brain diseases have been reported to be of concern since the virus first appeared in China, the study said. However, the authors wrote that their work was the first systematic review of the subject.
“There are increasing reports of a link between Covid-19 infection and possible neurological or psychiatric complications, but so far these have typically been limited to studies with ten or fewer patients,” said lead author, Benedict Michael, a senior clinical officer Scientist at Liverpool University, opposite the Guardian.
He added that it was still important to point out that the study only looked at serious cases that required hospitalization. Michael Sharpe, professor of psychological medicine at Oxford University, told the Guardian that the accumulation of cases was “striking”.
However, he said that scientists should not rule out the possibility that the cases may not be related and happened to occur at the same time as the virus infection.
Sarah Pett, a professor at University College London who worked on the study, told Reuters that the study was “an important snapshot of the brain-related complications associated with Covid-19 in hospitalized patients.”
She continued: “It is vital that we continue to collect information to fully understand this virus.”
The article first appeared here and has been translated from English.
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