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Foundation: the study of the clinical characteristics of people infected with COVID-19 has shown that factors such as advanced age, male gender and the presence of comorbidities are associated with the clinical variability of this disease.Objective: to determine the comorbidities related to the severity of COVID-19 infections.Methods: research carried out at the San Vicente de Paul Hospital, which includes 200 patients admitted for COVID-19. The collection of information was carried out through the medical records and the degree of severity of COVID-19 was categorized. Pearson's Chi square was used with a significance level of 95%, p≤ 0.005 and the Odds Ratio test for risk estimation.Results: 53% of the patients belong to the male sex and 61.5% presented at least one comorbidity, and arterial hypertension was the most reported (35%); 70% predominated with a serious disease and 2.5% died. Furthermore, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was associated with an increased risk of developing mild to moderate illness from COVID-19.Conclusions: the study favors monitoring the association between comorbidities as the pandemic progressed and using the information as a prognostic factor to guide early intervention and an appropriate therapeutic approach.

Background: COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-Cov-2 virus and presents a wide range of symptoms, both in its acute phase and in its chronic phase. Among the systems that it affects is the Nervous, due to its neurotropic mechanism. Objective: to determine the risk of neurological complications associated with the COVID-19 severity in adult patients. Methods: a descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out, which included 143 positive patients for COVID-19 treated at the San Vicente de Paúl Hospital, in Ibarra, Ecuador, during 2021. Neurological complications and the severity of the COVID-19 disease were analyzed. As a measure of association for these variables, the Fisher Test was used (p = ≤ 0.05) and a bivariate analysis was performed. Results: 54% of the patients presented neurological complications of the Central Nervous System, while 46% were of the Peripheral Nervous System; and mild-moderate severity was the most frequent (41%), and hearing impairment had the highest statistical probability of occurring (OR= 74.968; CI: 95%). The case fatality rate in these patients was 7.1%; and in those with neurological complications, 8.4%. Conclusion: the neurological sequelae most likely to occur were hearing impairment and taste impairment, in patients with mild severity and serious severity, respectively; in addition to polyneuropathy in patients with critical severity, which also occurred in deceased patients. Keywords: Coronavirus infections; neurologic manifestations; central nervous system; peripheral nervous system; severity of illness index

Background: cognitive impairment in patients with neurocysticercosis is frequent, therefore, it is very useful to have prognostic instruments to establish a better management of it.Objective: to propose a predictive scale of cognitive impairment in adult patients with neurocysticercosis.Methods: study with a correlational, prospective and cross-sectional design, which included 93 patients with neurocysticercosis. Through data provided by previous research, the variables related to the appearance of cognitive impairment were selected in the bivariate analysis (p As a multivariate analysis technique, a multidimensional scaling (PROXSCAL) was performed (s-stress < 0.001 and Tucker's congruence coefficient > 0.999). The prognostic performance of each of the variables was determined by means of sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values, with their respective 9 5% confidence intervals.Results: a scale with a dichotomous format was developed, which included 7 factors (4 clinical and 3 tomographic), with which a score of 0 to 7 points was obtained for the prediction of cognitive impairment in adult patients with neurocysticercosis, with a probability of: 0-1 point: 75.3 %; 2-3 points: 95 %; ≥ 4 points: 96 %.Conclusion: the proposed instrument has an acceptable prognostic accuracy; it is simple, reproducible and requires little time for its application. This score can improve the quality of care for patients with neurocysticercosis, since it allows guiding the management of this condition

Background: Many patients with neurocysticercosis manifest cognitive damage, with important effects on their quality of life.Objective: to determine the correlation between cognitive status and tomographic findings in patients with neurocysticercosis.Method: correlational, prospective and cross-sectional study, which included 93 patients diagnosed with neurocysticercosis treated in two Ecuadorian hospitals, from May 2019 to May 2020. The Folstein Mini-Mental State Examination was used for cognitive assessment. The relative risk and the Chi square test were estimated, considering statistical significance if pResults: among the tomographic findings, lesions greater than 1 cm (32.2%), multiple (30.1%), located in the parietal region (34.4%) and subarachnoid (46.2%) enhance. The cognitive evaluation showed normal results in 74.2% of the cases, as well as mild to moderate dementia in 9.7% of the patients. The most affected area was the language (54.8%). Dementia was mainly associated with lesion size greater than 1 centimeter [RR: 7.35; 95% CI: 1.62-33.3], followed by the number of lesions (multiple or racemose) and the mixed topography. In the multivariate analysis, these lost the correlation.Conclusion: The cognitive deficit had a lower prevalence than that described in the specialized literature, and was associated with tomographic variables such as the size, number and location of the lesions; in multivariate analysis, none of these factors maintained their statistical significance