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Revue de neuropsychologie

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Are there any neuropsychological sequelae of SARS-CoV-2? Volume 12, issue 2, Avril-Mai-Juin 2020

Authors
1 Laboratoire de Neuropsychologie clinique et expérimentale, Faculté de psychologie et des sciences de l’éducation, Université de Genève, 40 boulevard du Pont d’Arve, 1205 Genève, Suisse
2 Unité de Neurologie cognitive, Service de Neurologie, Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève, Suisse
3 Faculté de Médecine, Université de Genève, Suisse
* Correspondance

Initially characterized as a severe acute respiratory coronavirus syndrome (SARS-CoV-2), new clinical observations in the acute phase of infection suggest that COVID-19 is also associated with the presence of neurological disorders. These observations are supported by recent cohort studies that indicate the presence of neurological disorders in patients with severe COVID-19 infection, in some cases even before the usual respiratory symptoms appear. Mao, et al. (1) found that 36.4 percent of COVID-19 infected patients had neurological symptoms, involving the central nervous system, the peripheral nervous system, and skeletal muscles. Encephalopathy is the most common neurological manifestation observed during the acute phase among patients followed in intensive care, but stroke has also been observed. At the neuropsychological level, confusion, severe executive dysfunction, and major attention fluctuations are the most common features observed (2).

As we will see in this article, although the etiological hypotheses are compatible with the presence of neuropsychological disorders, and rare observations suggest the presence of the virus in the endothelium of the brain and in particular of the frontal lobe, we do not yet know if there are any cognitive sequelae directly related to COVID-19. If there were, these disorders would have a major impact in individual and societal terms. However, we do not know the predictive factors, nor the duration, the nature, or their kinetics.