Neurology

Acute neurological complications of COVID-19 affect up to 20-30% of hospitalised patients, including encephalopathy/delirium, encephalitis, stroke, and Parkinsonism. These are often otherwise unexplained (i.e. excluding risk factors/hypoxia/iatrogenic causes) and often occur in younger patients. Survivors frequently report neurological symptoms. The limited regenerative capacity of the brain means these complications may cause lifelong disability. There is an urgent, unmet need to understand the biological causes of acute neurological complications of COVID-19 and their symptoms.

The Neurology working group aims to evaluate both the clinical phenotype of acute neurological complications and the medium-term neurological symptoms in 800 patients who have developed these complications at or around the time of SARS-CoV2 infection relative to 500 controls. We will then compare these clinical features to genetic, immunologic, virologic, biomarker, and neuroimaging findings to mechanistically stratify patients by underlying biological processes driving these complications.

We are employing standardised neurological assessments:

  • We are working with the WHO and World Federation of Neurology to validate our Neurological Case Record Form through an international Inter-Observer Variability study
  • We are working with the Global NeuroCOVID Coalition to translate the Core Neurological Assessment:
    - English
    - Italian
  • We have produced an accompanying Core Neurological Examination Training video
  • We iteratively evaluate the spectrum of neurological (and psychiatric) manifestations of COVID-19 at the COVID-CNS Case Evaluation Panel fortnightly: members please email covidcns@kcl.ac.uk if you would like to be added to the calendar invite list.

Leads

Members

Back to: COVID-19 Clinical Neuroscience Study (COVID-CNS)