New research – Covid-19 and the risk of developing neurological conditions

New research has revealed that contracting Covid-19 increases the risk of developing neurological conditions.

The study, published in The Lancet, analysed the TriNetX electronic 2020 health records of more than 230,000 Covid-19 patients, mostly from the US.

One in three Covid-19 survivors (34%) were diagnosed with a neurological or psychiatric condition within six months of being infected.

University of Oxford researchers found that for those who were admitted to hospital or intensive care, the risk became even higher at 39%.

This rose to 46% in those who needed intensive care, and 62% among people who had encephalopathy while battling Covid-19.

For 13% of people, it was their first neurological or psychiatric diagnosis.

 As well as the most common effects in those with the virus – anxiety and mood disorders – other neurological consequences included brain haemorrhage, stroke, dementia and psychosis.

The research concluded that “substantial effects on health and social care systems are likely to occur” and that further “urgent” research needs to be carried out to establish how such effects happen and what can be done to treat them.