Pain and Other Neurological Symptoms Are Present at 3 Months After Hospitalization in COVID-19 Patients

Jude P J Savarraj; Angela B Burkett; Sarah N Hinds; Atzhiry S Paz; Andres Assing; Shivanki Juneja; Gabriela D Colpo; Luis F Torres; Sung-Min Cho; Aaron M Gusdon; Louise D McCullough; H Alex Choi

doi:10.3389/fpain.2021.737961

Pain and Other Neurological Symptoms Are Present at 3 Months After Hospitalization in COVID-19 Patients

Front Pain Res (Lausanne). 2021 Nov 16:2:737961. doi: 10.3389/fpain.2021.737961. eCollection 2021.

Affiliations

¹ Departent of Neurosurgery, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States.
² Department of Neurology, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States.
³ Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States.

Abstract

COVID-19 is an ongoing pandemic with a devastating impact on public health. Acute neurological symptoms have been reported after a COVID-19 diagnosis, however, the long-term neurological symptoms including pain is not well established. Using a prospective registry of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, we assessed pain and neurological function (including functional, cognitive and psychiatric assessments) of several hospitalized patients at 3 months. Our main finding is that 60% of the patients report pain symptoms. 71% of the patients still experienced neurological symptoms at 3 months and the most common symptoms being fatigue (42%) and PTSD (25%). Cognitive symptoms were found in 12%. Our preliminary findings suggests the importance of investigating long-term outcomes and rationalizes the need for further studies investigating the neurologic outcomes and symptoms of pain after COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; fatigue; long-haul; neurological symptoms; pain.

Grants and funding

R01 MH127856/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/United States