Authors: by\u00a0Judy George<\/a>, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today\u00a0January 7, 2021share to facebook<\/a>share to twitter<\/a>share to linkedin<\/a>email article<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Long-term neurologic manifestations were seen in more than a third of patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infection, a prospective study in Italy showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a group of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with no prior neurologic disease, 37.4% showed abnormalities on neurologic exam 6 months later — most commonly cognitive deficits, hyposmia, and postural tremor — according to Alessandro Padovani, MD, PhD, of the University of Brescia, and co-authors. The findings were reported in a medRxiv<\/em> preprint<\/a> and have not undergone peer review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Patients also noted fatigue, memory impairment, and sleep disorders, Padovani said. “The severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection was an important predictor, together with age and premorbid condition, of long-term neurological symptoms and features in the cohort.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The findings are important for long-term management of COVID-19 patients, he told MedPage Today<\/em>. “They showed that the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection may impact on neurological sequelae, but also that the symptoms reported do not always reflect neurological features at examination.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The study is one of the first to look specifically for new long-term neurologic manifestations in COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized. Earlier research showed that 87% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 reported\u00a0persistence of at least one lingering symptom<\/a>, notably fatigue and dyspnea, 60 days after discharge. Fatigue and dyspnea also were the\u00a0most prevalent symptoms<\/a>\u00a0reported during infection and at 3-month follow-up in an analysis of both hospitalized and non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n