COVID-19: A Chronological Review of the Neurological Repercussions - What do We Know by May, 2020?

  1. Paulo Afonso Mei
  2. Laura Loeb

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Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Despite the new SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) be the seventh of the coronavirus family viruses known to cause human disease, little is known about potential symptoms and syndromes secondary to the compromise of the central and peripheral nervous systems. We reviewed neurological manifestations due to the new coronavirus, thus far published in the literature, as well as guidelines issued by sub-specialties in Neurology, to tackle the disease. Methods: we searched medical databases, such as PubMed, PubMed Central, LILACS and Google scholar for papers (case reports, short letters, case series, etc) describing neurological symptoms in patients with confirmed or suspect COVID-19 diagnosis and also searched webpages of associations and organizations that deal with neurological disorders. Results: we describe briefly each article considered for this review. Forty-one papers were found associating neurological conditions and COVID-19. Cases are divided by disease groups and, within each disease group, results are listed in chronological order or publication date. We also discuss briefly recommendations for neurological patients, according to disease group. Conclusion: Although there is evidence of neurological manifestations with previous coronaviruses, COVID-19 is assuring a volume of published papers not seen before for other coronavirus infections. Most neurological cases are not life-threatening, but 10 to 20% of cases will require hospitalization and are in risk for sequelae and death. Although a lot of data coming from these papers is amassing, researchers must bear in mind that many papers currently published are not yet peer-reviewed, and thus are prone to further corrections.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.05.19.20107102: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    14th.l..202.0. PubMed and PubMed Central (14), EMBASE (15), LILACS (16), and Google Scholar (17) databases were searched.
    PubMed
    suggested: (PubMed, RRID:SCR_004846)
    EMBASE
    suggested: (EMBASE, RRID:SCR_001650)
    Google Scholar
    suggested: (Google Scholar, RRID:SCR_008878)
    Later, we searched all those databases and included a broader search in Google (18), for “neurology”, “nervous system”, “neurological”, AND “guidelines”, “society”, or “recommendations”.
    Google
    suggested: (Google, RRID:SCR_017097)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.05.19.20107102v1 on medRxiv