Nearly one-third of Covid-19 patients in a US hospital system experienced some kind of altered mental function, a study published in Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology has found.
These altered mental functions included confusion, delirium and unresponsiveness, the study noted.
The research explored the neurologic manifestations of Covid-19 and found some were present in 82.3 per cent of the patients at some point in the course of the disease, a media report stated.
Symptoms included muscle pain, headaches, dizziness and disorders of taste (15.9%) and smell (11.4%), it noted.
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Almost one-third of the patients hospitalised with coronavirus developed encephalopathy, degeneration of brain function. “Patients suffering from altered mental function experienced the worst medical results,” the study stated.
The study analysed the records of the first 509 Covid-19 patients who were admitted from March 5 to April 6 to 10 hospitals in Chicago.
This is said to be one of the largest studies conducted on the neurological symptoms among Covid-19 patients in an American hospital system.
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After these Covid-19 patients were discharged, only 32% of the patients with altered mental function were able to handle routine daily activities like cooking and paying bills, Dr Igor Koralnik, senior author of the study was quoted as saying by The New York Times.
In contrast, 89% of patients without altered mental function were able to manage such activities without assistance, it added.
The media report added that patients with altered mental function were nearly seven times as likely to die as those who did not have that type of problem.
“This study highlights that for survivors of Covid-19 when they survive the infection, their recovery is just beginning,” Dr. Richard Temes, director of the Center for Neurocritical Care at Northwell Health in Manhasset, New York said. “These patients can have longstanding and lingering effects.”
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