Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has produced a myriad of challenges, including identifying and treating neurological sequelae.
Main body: COVID-19 can cause olfactory and respiratory dysfunction with average recovery within 1 month and a minority of patients experiencing symptoms at 8-month follow-up. Headaches are also very common (up to 93%) amongst patients with persistent COVID-19 symptoms. COVID-19 illness may also affect cognition, although results are mixed.
Conclusion: While many studies have focused on acute COVID-19 symptoms, more longitudinal studies will need to assess the neurological sequelae of the disease. Furthermore, care must be taken when attributing sequelae to COVID-19 illness and not an unrelated cause. Finally, there is concern that COVID-19 may be associated with secondary illnesses, such as Guillain-Barre, and may even contribute to the development of diseases, such as Alzheimer's.
Keywords: COVID-19; Long term; Neurological; SARS-CoV-2; Sequelae.
© The Author(s) 2021.