Background: Neurological involvement in Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is widely recognized. However, the role of pre-existing neurological comorbidities in modulating COVID-19-related mortality still remains unclear. This cohort study evaluates the COVID-19-related case fatality rate (CFR) of patients with pre-existing neurological diseases. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated all patients consecutively admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of COVID-19 between March and April 2020. We used a multivariate regression analysis to estimate the association between pre-existing neurological diseases and COVID-19-related mortality. Then, we compared the CFR and survival curves of two cohorts (patients suffering vs. those not suffering from pre-existing neurological disease), matched trough the propensity score (PS). Age and other comorbidities were considered for PS calculation. We applied a 1:1 matching for the entire neurological cohort and, separately, for cerebrovascular, neurodegenerative, and other neurological diseases. Results: Among 332 patients, 75 (22.6%) were affected by pre-existing neurological disease (n = 29 cerebrovascular, n = 26 neurodegenerative, n = 20 others). From the multivariate regression analysis, they resulted with a significant increase of COVID-19-related mortality (OR:2.559; 95%CI 1.181–5.545; p < 0.017). From the cohort analysis, CFR resulted 2-fold higher in patients with neurological disease (48.0% vs. 24.0%; p = 0.002). CFR was significantly higher in patients with neurodegenerative diseases compared to matched individuals (73.9% vs. 39.1%; p = 0.017), while CFR increase in patients with cerebrovascular diseases did not reach statistical significance (48.3% vs. 41.4%; p = 0.597). Conclusions: Pre-existing neurological comorbidities, in particular neurodegenerative diseases, increase significantly COVID-19-related case fatality, indicating a clear priority for viral screening, access to care facilities and vaccination in these populations.

Neurological comorbidities and COVID-19-related case fatality: A cohort study

Romagnolo A.
First
;
Imbalzano G.;Artusi C. A.;Balestrino R.;Ledda C.;De Rosa F. G.;Riccardini F.;Montanaro E.;Bozzali M.;Rizzone M. G.;Zibetti M.;Lopiano L.
2021-01-01

Abstract

Background: Neurological involvement in Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is widely recognized. However, the role of pre-existing neurological comorbidities in modulating COVID-19-related mortality still remains unclear. This cohort study evaluates the COVID-19-related case fatality rate (CFR) of patients with pre-existing neurological diseases. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated all patients consecutively admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of COVID-19 between March and April 2020. We used a multivariate regression analysis to estimate the association between pre-existing neurological diseases and COVID-19-related mortality. Then, we compared the CFR and survival curves of two cohorts (patients suffering vs. those not suffering from pre-existing neurological disease), matched trough the propensity score (PS). Age and other comorbidities were considered for PS calculation. We applied a 1:1 matching for the entire neurological cohort and, separately, for cerebrovascular, neurodegenerative, and other neurological diseases. Results: Among 332 patients, 75 (22.6%) were affected by pre-existing neurological disease (n = 29 cerebrovascular, n = 26 neurodegenerative, n = 20 others). From the multivariate regression analysis, they resulted with a significant increase of COVID-19-related mortality (OR:2.559; 95%CI 1.181–5.545; p < 0.017). From the cohort analysis, CFR resulted 2-fold higher in patients with neurological disease (48.0% vs. 24.0%; p = 0.002). CFR was significantly higher in patients with neurodegenerative diseases compared to matched individuals (73.9% vs. 39.1%; p = 0.017), while CFR increase in patients with cerebrovascular diseases did not reach statistical significance (48.3% vs. 41.4%; p = 0.597). Conclusions: Pre-existing neurological comorbidities, in particular neurodegenerative diseases, increase significantly COVID-19-related case fatality, indicating a clear priority for viral screening, access to care facilities and vaccination in these populations.
2021
428
1
9
COVID-19; Dementia; Mortality; Neurology; Stroke
Romagnolo A.; Imbalzano G.; Artusi C.A.; Balestrino R.; Ledda C.; De Rosa F.G.; Riccardini F.; Montanaro E.; Bozzali M.; Rizzone M.G.; Zibetti M.; Lopiano L.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1797089
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