Altered neurologic symptoms were observed in patients with long COVID and it persisted for a minimum of 6 months. 56 Covid-19 positive people were included in a study conducted from October 2020 to October 2021 and monitored at the beginning of the study and 6 months later.

SARS-CoV-2 infection caused neurologic symptoms were seen in all with multiple sclerosis in 16 patients. Fatigue was seen in 89.3% of participants while 80.4 % complained of headaches, with lack of concentration, memory loss and sleeplessness being the other common complaints.

Among 27 patients, 68.8% complained of memory loss and 61.5% suffered from bad concentration after 6 months. A third of the individuals reported complete symptom alleviation after 6 months. Despite, an improvement in the average score on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a low score was reported in 26.3 % of participants. Delayed recall, language, and interest were the most impaired regions of cognition from which the patients were suffering.

Uncoordinated movements and cognitive problems (PASC-TAC) were observed in 4 long-term COVID patients who had no antecedent neurologic disease and had normal imaging. These people recovered slowly, and several symptoms required medication and supportive care after the 6-month point. Six of the individuals, including two people with a history of neurologic disease, had cranial nerve impairment.

In the NeuCOVID study, the symptoms will be tracked annually for up to ten years to figure out what mechanism was causing such a disorder and what kind of medical support these people needed. The results were published in the Annals of Clinical and Translational neurology.(MedPage Today June 16, 2022)