|Videos|April 7, 2022
Comparing Neurological Examinations of COVID-19 With Other Viral Infections: Matthew Schindler, MD, PhD
Author(s)Matthew Schindler, MD, PhD
The assistant professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania discussed the similarities observed between the results of neurological exams in patients with COVID-19 vs other respiratory infections. [WATCH TIME: 3 minutes]
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WATCH TIME: 3 minutes
"When you're seeing patients on the inpatient service, you can kind of approach it just like you would in any other virally infected patient. Things such as a encephalopathy, or particularly a toxic metabolic encephalopathy, with more severe infections, we commonly see this, and that independent of whether it was COVID-19, or another infection, another virus. That was sort of the predominant thing that we saw."
At the 2022 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting , April 2-7, in Seattle, Washington, data were presented from a retrospective chart analysis aimed to determine whether inpatient neurological consultations differ between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 respiratory infections. Although neurological consultations are common for viral-mediated disease, neurologists are still figuring out whether consultation of patients with COVID-19 should be altered. To do so, investigators compared the reasons for neurologic consultation and final diagnosis of 62 patients with COVID-19 between March 2020 and April 2021 to 56 patients with non-COVID respiratory virus between January 2019 and January 2020.
Non-COVID-19 respiratory viruses included Influenza A and B, respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, and adenovirus. Using a frequency and means analysis, the study investigators concluded that stroke was the only diagnosis more common among patients with COVID-19 compared to the rest of the sample (14% vs 9%). Neurology was consulted significantly later in the hospital course of COVID-19 (3.1 vs 0.96 days), despite a higher mortality in the other population (30% vs 19%).
Senior investigator Matthew Schindler, MD , believes these results may help guide neurologists when conducting neurological examinations for patients with COVID-19. Schindler, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, sat down with NeurologyLive® at AAN 2022 to discuss the reasons behind conducting the study, as well as some of the biggest take-home points clinicians of which should be aware.
REFERENCE
1. Emmert B, Gandelman S, Do D, Schindler M. A single center, retrospective analysis of inpatient neurologic consultations of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. Presented at: 2022 AAN Annual Meeting; April 2-7; Seattle, Washington. Abstract 3171.
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