Spectrum of Neuropsychiatric Manifestations and Associated Factors of COVID-19 in Epidemic Treatment Centers (CTEPI) in Guinea

Introduction: COVID-19 disease has spread worldwide since December 2019. Neurological symptoms have been reported as part of the clinical spectrum of the disease. The aim of this study was to describe the neuropsychiatric manifestations of neuro COVID in tropical settings. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, multicenter study lasting 6 months on patients hospitalized in the CTEPI of Gbessia and Champ Alpha Yaya Diallo in Conakry. All patients presenting with neurological symptoms in the days following SARS COV2 infection were included in the study according to the neuroCOVID diagnostic criteria. All patients with comorbidities (hypertension, diabetes, HIV, tuberculosis of the nervous system) were excluded. Results: Of 350 patients hospitalized with COVID-19; 267 patients (76.3%) developed at least one neurological symptom with a mean age of 44.5 years. Neurological signs were dominated by headache (67.4), anosmia (51.2%), ageusia (45%), impaired vigilance (11.2%), hemiplegia (5.2%), paresthesias (1.5%) and paraparesis (1.5%). Stroke was found in 24 patients (9%); 13 patients (4.9%) had encephalitis. Thirteen patients (4.9%) developed peripheral neuropathies and 4 (1.5%) had Guillain-Barré syndrome. Conclusion: In our series, more than half of the patients presented some form of neurological symptom related to cases of COVID-19 infection. Further studies are needed for a better understanding of the mechanisms of neurological involvement of SARS-CoV-2.