Summary: SARS-CoV-2, which was responsible for the breakout of COVID-19 pandemic has caused over a quarter of a billion infections and over five million deaths. Neuroinvasive and neurotropic character of the coronaviruses may very well be the reason for neurological complications not only in the acute phase of the disease, but also several weeks later.
Most of the neurological manifestations of post-COVID syndrome can be described as mild, however in some cases, serious complications may occur. A correlation between the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the frequency and intensity of delayed manifestations can be observed.
Post-COVID patients most commonly suffered from fatigue and weakness. They often also experienced cognitive, memory and concentration impairments. Taste and smell disturbances may persist in a few to about a dozen percent of the patients. Autonomic nervous system disorders have also been reported. The symptoms include, but are not limited to, palpitations, chest pain and hypotension.
The increased cardiovascular risk has been already described in the first months of the pandemic. This included the increased probability of ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke, especially in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Taking into account some primary observations, the risk of vascular incidents may be increased not only in the acute phase of the disease, but also in post-COVID. However, there are still very few studies on this aspect. Singular cases of Guillain‒Barré and opsoclonus-myoclonus syndromes, which developed several weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection have also been described.
Most of the papers on neurological manifestations of COVID-19 focus on the acute phase of the disease. Further research is required to identify key time windows, in which post-COVID patients should be under most scrutinous observation and care, as the data available today suggests, that COVID-19 may trigger numerous complications, manifesting themselves several weeks or even months after the acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.