Abstract
Objective
To describe the frequency of neuropsychiatric complications among hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and their association with pre-existing comorbidities and clinical outcomes.
Methods
We retrospectively identified all patients hospitalized with COVID-19 within a large multicenter New York City health system between March 15, 2020 and May 17, 2021 and randomly selected a representative cohort for detailed chart review. Clinical data, including the occurrence of neuropsychiatric complications (categorized as either altered mental status [AMS] or other neuropsychiatric complications) and in-hospital mortality, were extracted using an electronic medical record database and individual chart review. Associations between neuropsychiatric complications, comorbidities, laboratory findings, and in-hospital mortality were assessed using multivariate logistic regression.
Results
Our study cohort consisted of 974 patients, the majority were admitted during the first wave of the pandemic. Patients were treated with anticoagulation (88.4%), glucocorticoids (24.8%), and remdesivir (10.5%); 18.6% experienced severe COVID-19 pneumonia (evidenced by ventilator requirement). Neuropsychiatric complications occurred in 58.8% of patients; 39.8% experienced AMS; and 19.0% experienced at least one other complication (seizures in 1.4%, ischemic stroke in 1.6%, hemorrhagic stroke in 1.0%) or symptom (headache in 11.4%, anxiety in 6.8%, ataxia in 6.3%). Higher odds of mortality, which occurred in 22.0%, were associated with AMS, ventilator support, increasing age, and higher serum inflammatory marker levels. Anticoagulant therapy was associated with lower odds of mortality and AMS.
Conclusion
Neuropsychiatric complications of COVID-19, especially AMS, were common, varied, and associated with in-hospital mortality in a diverse multicenter cohort at an epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
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Acknowledgements
We dedicate this work to the patients and healthcare workers in the Mount Sinai Health System during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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KG serves as a clinical and scientific advisor to Ceribell Inc., receives consulting fees for research contributions unrelated to this work, and owns stock options in Ceribell Inc.; he received grant funding paid to his institution from NINDS (NIH R25NS079102) and the Leon Levy Foundation; and he serves as a review editor for Frontiers in Neurology-Epilepsy. VJP received grant funding paid to her institution from NINDS (NIH R25NS079102) and the Leon Levy Foundation. PA received grant funding paid to her institution from NICHD (NIH R01HD100544), NIH (PD22-01299) and SU2C 6209, and she receives an honorarium for her work as an assistant editor of Statistics of Anesthesia & Analgesia. LJB received research support from the American Epilepsy Society, Epilepsy Foundation, NORSE Institute, NIA (NIH T32AG066598), Mount Sinai Claude D. Pepper Older American Independence Center (5P30AG028741-11), and Icahn School of Medicine Department of Neurology. CSK received research support from the American Epilepsy Society as well as grant funding paid to his institution from the Leon Levy Foundation. EMS received fellowship funding paid to her institution from Biogen. CU was funded by the Medical Student Training in Aging Research program sponsored by the National Institute of Aging. JJY received research support from Monteris for unrelated work and grant funding paid to his institution from NINDS (R25NS8440304) and the Leon Levy Foundation. PB received grant funding paid to her institution from NCI (NIH R01CA202911), NIMH (NIH R01MH116953), NIA (NIH R21AG076211), NIDCR (NIH R56DE030680), and NINDS (NIH R00NS070821, NIH R21NS122389). GN received an honorarium for advisory work from Genentech. AWC received grant funding paid to his institution from NIMH (NIH U01MH109536, NIH R01MH121923, NIH R01MH130662) and NIA (NIH R01AG069976). GNN received grant funding paid to his institution from NIDDK (NIH K23DK107908, NIH R01DK127139, NIH U01DK133093) and NHLBI (NIH R01HL155915). NJ received grant funding paid to her institution from NINDS (NIH U24NS107201, NIH U54NS100064, NIH U24NS113849), the American Epilepsy Society, and the NORSE Institute during the study period; she receives an honorarium for her work as an associate editor of Epilepsia, and she was the Icahn School of Medicine Bludhorn Professor of International Medicine. The remaining authors report no conflicts of interest or disclosures.
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The study was approved by the Icahn School of Medicine Institutional Review Board (IRB-20–03271) and conducted in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Due to the retrospective nature of the study, informed consent was not required.
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Gururangan, K., Peschansky, V.J., Van Hyfte, G. et al. Neuropsychiatric complications of coronavirus disease 2019: Mount Sinai Health System cohort study. J Neurol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-024-12370-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-024-12370-9