Seizures as the main presenting manifestation of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in children.

Seizure

Pediatric neurology unit, Hadassah medical center, Jerusalem, Israel; School of medicine, the Hebrew university of Jerusalem, Israel. Electronic address:

Published: November 2021

Objectives: To explore the rate, characteristics, risk factors, and prognosis of children presenting with seizures as the main symptom of acute COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019).

Methods: We conducted a systematic retrospective study to identify all children who presented to the emergency departments of a tertiary academic medical center between March 1st and December 31st 2020 and had a SARS-CoV-2 infection based on RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) from nasopharyngeal swab. Clinical and demographic data were extracted from the electronic medical records and reviewed.

Results: Total of 175 children were diagnosed with acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in the emergency departments during the study period. Of those, 11 presented with seizures. Age ranged from six months to 17 years and 4 were girls. Five presented with status epilepticus and responded to loading doses of anti-seizure medications. Six had fever. Seven had prior history of neurological disorder. Full recovery was the rule.

Significance: Unlike in adults, seizures occur early and may be the main manifestation of acute COVID-19 in children. Seizures, including status epilepticus, may occur without fever even in children with no history of epilepsy and are not associated with severe disease. A high index of suspicion is required for early diagnosis thus infection control measures can be taken.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8397499PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seizure.2021.08.017DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

sars-cov-2 infection
12
seizures main
8
manifestation acute
8
acute sars-cov-2
8
acute covid-19
8
emergency departments
8
status epilepticus
8
children
6
seizures
5
main presenting
4

Similar Publications

Drug Development.

Alzheimers Dement

December 2024

Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.

Background: Participant dropout from study treatment in a clinical trial can leave a trial underpowered, produce bias in statistical analysis, and limit interpretability of study results. Retaining participants in clinical trials for the full study duration is therefore as important as participant recruitment. This analysis aims to identify the baseline characteristics of participants who discontinued during the blinded phase of one of the first and largest preclinical AD trial completed to date, the Anti-Amyloid treatment in Asymptomatic AD (A4) Study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Drug Development.

Alzheimers Dement

December 2024

University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.

Background: Recruitment challenges in people with and without Down syndrome (DS) can delay research progress and risk sample bias. This study identified and quantified differences in research attitudes across populations of research enrollment decision-makers for individuals with and without DS.

Method: We compared scores on the Research Attitudes Questionnaire (RAQ) of individuals enrolled in two recruitment registries: the UCI Consent to Contact [C2C (N = 4818)] and DS-Connect (N = 976).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: With the advent of new media, more people - possibly including caregivers of persons with dementia - are turning to social media platforms to share their thoughts and emotions related to personal life experiences. This may potentially serve as an opportunity to leverage on social media to gain insights into the key issues faced by dementia caregivers. We examined salient concerns of dementia caregivers through Twitter posts, aiming to shed light on how to better support and engage such caregivers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on healthcare, contributing to a mass exodus of the workforce. This poses a concern for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) care, which benefits from consistent care routine and staff that know the resident. Therefore, it is important to understand nursing home staff perspectives on maintaining high staff morale, which impacts recruitment, retention, and care quality.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Vascular dementia (VaD), the second most common cause of dementia, is characterized by cognitive decline due to reduced cerebral blood flow and blood-brain barrier disruption. Current evidence demonstrates that not only are VaD patients at higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness and mortality, but also that pre-existing cognitive dysfunction/dementia is associated with increased COVID-19 incidence. Conversely, SARS-CoV-2 infection alone worsens dementia-related mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and increases risk of cognitive decline, supported by similar fMRI findings demonstrating hypoperfusion.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!