Mental Confusion, Disorientation May Be Early Warning Sign of Severe COVID-19
A new University of Florida study finds that patients with COVID-19 who displayed symptoms of disorientation and confusion were three times more likely to go on to develop severe COVID-19 than patients with the virus who did not experience neurological symptoms.
“One of the key things in treating COVID-19 is looking for signs that you might have an aggressive or severe disease course,” said the study’s lead author, David Marra, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the department of clinical and health psychology at the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, part of UF Health, the university’s academic health center. “What we found was that certain brain symptoms, specifically a condition known as encephalopathy, may be an early marker of more severe COVID-19. We hope this might equip front-line workers and other health care providers with information to help them be on the lookout for a more severe disease course.”
The findings, which appear in Critical Care Explorations, are based on electronic health records from five Florida hospitals of more than 36,600 patients with COVID-19, 12% of whom developed severe COVID-19. The data were made available through the OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium.
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