Neurologic Involvement in Children Hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Neurologic symptoms often accompany SARS-CoV-2 infection and are generally short-lived but can be severe and even fatal.

Neurologic symptoms in adults with COVID-19 are well described and range from headache and anosmia to acute encephalitis, transverse myelitis, and stroke. Severe COVID-19 is much less common in children, and detailed information is limited. To define neurologic symptoms and predict neurologic outcomes in affected children, researchers reviewed records from the Overcoming COVID-19 network of 1695 children and adolescents <21 years of age hospitalized with either severe COVID-19 or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) at 61 hospitals across 31 states from March 15 through December 15, 2020.

Findings include the following:

Of the children, 365 (22%) had neurologic involvement, about half of whom had no underlying condition. Howe…

Reviewing Author

Deborah Lehman, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Deborah Lehman, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Neurologic Involvement in Children Hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Topics

Reviewing Author