Clinical manifestations and possible predictors of the formation of post-COVID syndrome in neurological practice

Abstract

Introduction. Studying clinical manifistations and prognostic factors for the development of post-covid syndrome (PCS) remains an actual task for doctors of various specialties.Aim. To study the clinical manifestations and probable predictors of the formation of PCS in neurological practice.Materials and methods. The study included 34 patients aged 18 to 65 years undergoing treatment at the A.Ya. Kozhevnikov Clinic of Nervous Diseases for the underlying disease: tension headaches (GBN), migraine (M), musculoskeletal pain (SMB), who had a documented coronavirus infection (CI) COVID-19. The main group (OG) consisted of 21 patients (average age 47.95 ± 12.21 years), in addition to the manifestations of the underlying disease, complaining of memory impairment, decreased concentration and performance, fatigue, anxiety and internal tension, low mood background and unwillingness to do anything, headache that occurred for the first time during, immediately after the end or within 2 months after the transferred CI, which met the criteria of the PCC. The comparison group (GS) included 13 patients (average age 38 ± 12 years) who complained only about their underlying diseases and did not note any peculiarities in their course due to the transferred CI. In addition to the main research methods, questionnaires were used: fatigue (MFI-20 scale), anxiety (Spielberger – Khanin scale), depression (Beck scale), cognitive impairment (MOCA test), impaired concentration (Munsterberg test), symptoms of central sensitization (CSI), quality of life (SF-36).Results. Clinical manifestations of PKS consisted in mild or subjective cognitive impairment (CN) without a change in concentration and asthenic symptom complex. OG patients were older, had moderate and severe acute period of CI and risks of cardiovascular pathology, statistically significantly differed from HS with higher scores on the scales: Beck depression, Spielberger – Khanin, CSI, MFI-20 and a lower score on the MOCA scale.Conclusions. Possible predictors of the formation of PKS can be: age over 40 years, moderate and severe course of CI, the presence of risks of cardiovascular pathology, depression and increased personal anxiety, higher rates of central sensitization.