Clinical features, pathogenesis and treatment of long-haul COVID‑19 impact on nervous system

Abstract

The current outbreak of coronavirus SARS-CoV‑2 (COVID-19) has raised great concern worldwide, but its impact on nervous system still needs more investigation. Thirty per cent of symptomatic patients with COVID‑19 will have symptoms that last longer than the typical two weeks, 10 % have symptoms longer than 3 months and this is called ‘long-COVID’. These symptoms affect not only people with severe disease, but also those with milder cases. Many long-haulers experience the same symptoms they had during their initial fight with COVID‑19, such as fatigue, cognitive impairment (or brain fog), difficulty breathing, headache, depression, insomnia and loss of the sense of taste and\or smell. Treatment of those complications with citicoline, ethylmethylhydroxypyridine succinate and vitamin B improves these symptoms in patients but most of them also need cognitive therapy for dehypochondrisation.