Abstract
Background
Since December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic caused by highly transmissible severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Although respiratory disease and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) are main clinical presentations in children, numerous neurological manifestations are being described increasingly. We aimed to investigate new onset neurological symptoms associated with SARS-CoV-2 in pediatric patients in order to establish a possible relationship as well as to understand the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms between SARS-CoV-2 infection and neurological findings.
Methods
We analyzed retrospectively children who had neurologic manifestations temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection at Hacettepe University İhsan Doğramaci Children’s Hospital. We performed a literature search between March 20, 2020 and March 30, 2021. Articles that report children with COVID-19 related neurological manifestations were included.
Results
We have observed 15 consecutive cases with new onset neurological manifestations along with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Age at hospitalization ranged from three months to 17 years. Ten patients had central nervous system involvement, and most common manifestation was encephalopathy (5/10), which is also one of the most common manifestations of the patients mentioned in the relevant 39 articles we reviewed.
Conclusion
Children with COVID-19 can present with neurologic findings such as encephalopathy, seizures, cerebrovascular events as well as abnormal eye movements. Clinical suspicion and awareness are required to show the association between neurologic manifestations and COVID-19.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, children, MIS-C, NEUROLOGY, Seizure, 【초록키워드】 coronavirus disease, coronavirus, Hospitalization, SARS-COV-2 infection, global pandemic, clinical, Respiratory disease, Patient, Encephalopathy, Central nervous system, university, association, Inflammatory, clinical presentation, neurological, manifestation, Seizures, acute respiratory syndrome, Pediatric patient, syndrome, pathophysiological mechanism, article, neurologic, neurological manifestation, event, Neurological symptom, Result, described, analyzed, performed, caused, the patient, required, increasingly, ranged, children with COVID-19, with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 Turkey, manifestation, literature review, children with COVID-19,