Abstract
Introduction
and Importance: More than two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is still grappling with this dilemma. COVID-19 covers a wide range of symptoms. Loss of consciousness (LOC) is a very rare symptom that can threaten a patient’s life and blur the prognosis of recovery.
Case presentation
An 89-year-old woman was presented to the emergency department with LOC (Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score = 3) without any history of the underlying disease and was immediately admitted to the intensive care unit. In brain imaging, severe small vessel disease was diagnosed by observing partial dilatation of the ventricles, sulcus, and hypodense areas in the periventricular area. Lung imaging propounded COVID-19 by detecting the ground glass pattern with 50%–75% involvement. After detecting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 nucleic acid by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, COVID-19 treatment was performed according to the national protocol. Finally, she was discharged after 26 days of hospitalization with partial recovery.
Clinical discussion
COVID-19-induced cytokine storm along with old age appears to increase LOC risk. It can be claimed that COVID-19-induced LOC can be considered as one of the symptoms of COVID-19 in the elderly population. Therefore, more attention should be paid to this population, which is more at risk.
Conclusion
Few reports illustrate the LOC as a COVID-19 presentation. This report highlights the fact that older people are more at risk for COVID-19-induced LOC than other age groups and should be given more care.
【저자키워드】 Coronavirus disease 2019, elderly, Case report, Loss of consciousness, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, Glasgow coma scale, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, Treatment, Cytokine storm, coronavirus, protocol, intensive care, Prognosis, Hospitalization, COVID-19 pandemic, risk, Symptom, underlying disease, Symptoms, Brain, nucleic acid, clinical, Patient, age, scale, group, disease, Care, acute respiratory syndrome, Older, ground glass pattern, symptoms of COVID-19, National, Loss, highlight, diagnosed, was performed, appear, discharged, claimed, small vessel, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19, risk factor, senility,