Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Bozzetti, Silvia
• Ferrari, Sergio
• Zanzoni, Serena
• Alberti, Daniela
• Braggio, Michele
• Carta, Sara
• Piraino, Francesco
• Gabbiani, Daniele
• Girelli, Domenico
• Nocini, Riccardo
• Monaco, Salvatore
• Crisafulli, Ernesto
• Mariotto, Sara

Titel

Neurological symptoms and axonal damage in COVID-19 survivors: are there sequelae?

Ist Teil von

• Immunologic research, 2021-12, Vol.69 (6), p.553-557

Ort / Verlag

New York: Springer US

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

SpringerLink (Online service)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The persistence of neurological symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection, as well as the presence of late axonal damage, is still unknown. We performed extensive systemic and neurological follow-up evaluations in 107 out of 193 consecutive patients admitted to the COVID-19 medical unit, University Hospital of Verona, Italy between March and June 2020. We analysed serum neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels in all cases including a subgroup ( n  = 29) of patients with available onset samples. Comparisons between clinical and biomarker data were then performed. Neurological symptoms were still present in a significant number ( n  = 49) of patients over the follow-up. The most common reported symptoms were hyposmia ( n  = 11), fatigue ( n  = 28), myalgia ( n  = 14), and impaired memory ( n  = 11) and were more common in cases with severe acute COVID-19. Follow-up serum NfL values (15.2 pg/mL, range 2.4–62.4) were within normal range in all except 5 patients and did not differentiate patients with vs without persistent neurological symptoms. In patients with available onset and follow-up samples, a significant ( p  < 0.001) decrease of NfL levels was observed and was more evident in patients with a severe acute disease. Despite the common persistence of neurological symptoms, COVID-19 survivors do not show active axonal damage, which seems a peculiar feature of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.