That finding would also suggest that patients with altered mental function in the hospital “might benefit from closer post-discharge monitoring or rehabilitation,” she added. In the study, the 162 patients with encephalopathy were more likely to be older and male. “We need to know more about that individual’s health records, which are not public.”Altered mental function was not the only neurological complication the Northwestern study found. Over all, 82 percent of the hospitalized patients had neurological symptoms at some point in the course of the disease from symptom onset through hospitalization, the study found. Among the neurological symptoms, muscle pain occurred in about 45 percent of patients and headaches in about 38 percent.

Source: New York Times October 05, 2020 18:55 UTC