Some aspects of post-COVID-19 syndrome in patients of the neurological department

Clinical and dynamic qualification of post-COVID syndrome within the personal history of COVID-19 in patients with inpatient treatment for coronavirus infection is presented. We examined 43 convalescents of pneumonia associated with COVID-19, aged 34 to 84 years, mean age of 63.15 + 2.14 (19 men and 24 women), for 20 days, treated in a Novgorod clinic neurological department with a diagnosis of fatigue syndrome after a viral disease in the period from February to May 2021. Methods of clinical and dynamic neurological examination, neuropsychological screening of cognitive impairments (Montreal Cognitive Assessment) were used. Patients' subjective complaints about fatigue and sleep disturbance were assessed, which was verified by the State of health, Activity, and Mood (SAM) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale questionnaires. The level of personal and reactive anxiety was assessed using the Ch.D. Spielberger and Yu.L. Khanin Anxiety Test. The level of depression was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The method of clinical and dynamic assessment was used with statistical processing by calculating the confidence coefficient, the reliability of the indicators and the difference in the average values. The study revealed such components of post-covid syndrome as: asthenic; dyssomnic; affective with a predominance of anxiety-depressive variant. When comparing the study groups by gender, it was revealed that in women, the severity of physical activity disorders in the asthenic complex is significantly greater (p<0.05), but the normalization of well-being (p<0.01) and activity (p<0.05) indicators is significantly faster (within 20 days). High personal and reactive anxiety was revealed with a significant predominance in the group of women (p<0.05) both upon their admission to the neurological department and after three weeks of observation with severity up to the clinical level without a significant difference in dynamics, which was regarded as an affective component of post-COVID syndrome with anxiety disorder in women. There was also subclinical depression without gender difference.

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