Complicaciones neurológicas en pacientes post covid-19

Abstract

Introduction: In December 2019, in Wuhan-China, the SARS CoV-2 virus known as COVID-19 appears. This virus mainly attacks the respiratory, digestive, and nervous systems; therefore, neurological complications in patients who have overcome the infection are significant. Methodology: a descriptive literature review study of digital documents was conducted, between 2017 and 2021; registering 1,606 documents, of which 1,473 were excluded finally selecting 52 documents. Results: The prevalence of neurological complications in post-COVID-19 patients range from 4.3% to 89.3%, the most severe and frequent being ischemic stroke with 74%, followed by headache 71.9%, dizziness 46.1%; acute confusional syndrome 28.3%; nausea and vomiting 24.6%, unspecified encephalopathy 23%, epilepsy and convulsions 3%; anosmia and hyposmia 45.2%, hypogeusia or ageusia 45%, diplopia 13%, polyradiculoneuropathy 7.6%, ataxia 4.3%, plexopathy 3.4%, oculomotor neuropathy 3.3%, rhabdomyolysis 2.1%; Guillain Barré syndrome 3.2%. Male sex accounted for 77.7%, mean age 58 years 68%; comorbidities such as arterial hypertension 29%, diabetes mellitus 31%, dyslipidemias 6.8% asthma 3.4% cardiovascular diseases 5.4%, obesity 26.6% smoking 9%. Conclusions: SARS CoV-2 virus is highly contagious, whose subsequent neurological complications reach 89.3%, it is more common in patients with comorbidities such as arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemias, asthma among others, with male sex predominance, average age range between 25 and 75 years. The therapeutic approach should be the usual one for each type of neurological complication, where nursing intervention is essential for recovery.