Doctor Pardis Zarifkar, lead author from the Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark, explained; “More than two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the precise nature and evolution of the effects of COVID-19 on neurological disorders remained uncharacterised.
“Previous studies have established an association with neurological syndromes, but until now it is unknown whether COVID-19 also influences the incidence of specific neurological diseases and whether it differs from other respiratory infections.
“The increased risk of most neurological diseases was, however, no higher in COVID-19 positive patients than in people who had been diagnosed with influenza or other respiratory illnesses. COVID-19 patients did have a 1.7 times increased risk of ischaemic stroke in comparison to influenza and bacterial pneumonia inpatients over 80 years of age.
“The frequency of other neurodegenerative illnesses such as multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, Guillain-Barré syndrome and narcolepsy did not increase after COVID-19, influenza, or pneumonia.”
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