Neurological Manifestations in COVID-19: An Unrecognized Crisis in Our Elderly?

Abstract

As of December 2020, there were more than 900,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations in the US with about 414,000 among individuals aged 65 years and older. Recent evidence suggests a growing number of older patients continue to suffer serious neurological comorbidities including polyneuropathy, cerebrovascular disease, central nervous system infection, cognitive deficits, and fatigue following discharge. Studies suggest that complaints manifest late in disease and persist beyond resolution of acute COVID-19 symptoms. Recent research reports that neurocognitive symptoms are correlated with severe disease, older age, male gender, and comorbidities including hypertension, renal failure, and neoplastic disease. The underlying causes are unclear, but current hypotheses include hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, immunopathological mechanisms, and neurotropism of SARS-CoV-2 infection. There is a pressing need for more research into the underlying mechanisms of post-COVID-19 neurological sequela, particularly in the elderly, a population already burdened with neurocognitive disorders.