Assessment of neurological manifestations in hospitalized patients with COVID‐19.

Background and purpose: The objective of this study was to assess the neurological manifestations in a series of consecutive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2)‐positive patients, comparing their frequency with a population hospitalized in the same period for flu/respiratory symptoms, finally not related to SARS‐CoV‐2. Methods: Patients with flu/respiratory symptoms admitted to Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli hospital from 14 March 2020 to 20 April 2020 were retrospectively enrolled. The frequency of neurological manifestations of patients with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection was compared with a control group. Results: In all, 213 patients were found to be positive for SARS‐CoV‐2, after reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction on nasal or throat swabs, whilst 218 patients were found to be negative and were used as a control group. Regarding central nervous system manifestations, in SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive patients a higher frequency of headache, hyposmia and encephalopathy always related to systemic conditions (fever or hypoxia) was observed. Furthermore, muscular involvement was more frequent in SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Conclusions: Patients with COVID‐19 commonly have neurological manifestations but only hyposmia and muscle involvement seem more frequent compared with other flu diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]