NEUROLOGICAL MANIFESTATIONS IN PATIENTS DIAGNOSED BY COVID-19, HOSPITAL DR. PUBLIO ESCOBAR, CHIMBORAZO, ECUADOR, 2023

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.1593702304097

• Palavras-chave: Neurological alterations, sensory alterations, COVID-19, neurological manifestations

• Keywords: Neurological alterations, sensory alterations, COVID-19, neurological manifestations

• Abstract:

  The SARS-CoV-2 virus is responsible for the COVID-19 disease pandemic. This acute phase disease is characterized not only by respiratory symptoms, but the clinical picture may be accompanied by multiple systemic symptoms, including neurological manifestations. The objective of the research was to characterize the neurological manifestations present in COVID-19 patients treated at the Dr. Publio Escobar hospital during the period from January-2022 to July-2023. The methodology used was a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional approach. The universe of study was 556 adult patients, over 18 years of age, of both sexes, diagnosed with COVID-19 and who presented some neurological manifestation on clinical examination. For the calculation of the sample size, a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 5% were taken into consideration, obtaining a sample of 181 patients, the sampling method was the probabilistic simple random type at random. The data collection technique was indirect quantitative and the data collection instruments used were the clinical history and data collection form. The data were processed using the statistical software SPSS version 21.0, and later analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results reveal that the mean age was 56 years, female (69.61%), with a previous history of arterial hypertension (34.81%), with 56.35% of the duration of the disease. The most frequent neurological manifestations were headache (51.93%) and anosmia (24.31%). It is concluded that a large proportion of patients with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis in a severe stage present neurological manifestations, so that the greater the degree of evolution of the disease, the greater the neurological sequelae. The increase in morbidity and mortality in patients with neurological manifestations will allow timely decisions to be made that impact the prevention of patients with COVID-19.