“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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Researchers at University of Florida Health and the OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium have joined a nationwide clinical trial to find out whether taking atorvastatin (Lipitor®), a drug commonly used to lower cholesterol, can help prevent dementia, disability and heart disease in older adults who haven’t already been diagnosed with those ailments.

The study, expected to become one of the largest clinical trials ever conducted in older adults, will include more than 20,000 participants and 100 sites across the U.S., including UF Health and several other OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium partner sites.

Recent studies suggest statins may continue to protect the heart and vascular system even after age 75. Preliminary evidence also suggests statins may protect against Alzheimer’s disease and contribute to overall well-being in adults ages 75 and older.

“There’s so much we don’t know about the benefits versus risks of using statins in older people,” said Marco Pahor, M.D., director of UF’s Institute on Aging and UF Health site principal investigator for the PREVENTABLE trial. “The long-term effects of statins on skeletal muscle and the brain are not well documented. PREVENTABLE is designed to address these important questions.”

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