VIDEO: Session on COVID-19 long-haulers raises ‘questions more than answers’

In this video perspective, Serena Spudich, MD, MA, discusses her talk on the long-term neurologic consequences of COVID-19 from the COVID-19 plenary session at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting, which is being held virtually.

Spudich is the Gilbert H. Glaser Professor of Neurology, division chief of neurological infections and global neurology and codirector of the Center for Neuroepidemiology and Clinical Neurological Research at Yale University School of Medicine. She told Healio Neurology that her talked covered “a number of different areas,” with the goal of exploring the new syndromes being seen in patients who have recovered from COVID-19, and started by describing “the scope” of the issue. She also reviewed researchers’ understanding of the pathogenesis of neurologic issues during acute COVID-19 infection, “because I think understanding what’s happening in people during the acute phase of the infection can help us gain some understanding regarding what may be happening in people who have recovered from the virus.”

Spudich talked about the post-COVID-19 neurology clinic at Yale and the “wide variety of issues” that patients with post-acute COVID-19 syndrome experience, including difficulty concentrating, headaches, sensory issues and, in some cases, new, severe psychiatric syndromes. She also reviewed ongoing research on a worldwide scale that attempts “to understand the biology” of these post-COVID-19 syndromes.

“Really, my talk was mostly composed of questions more than answers, but I hope it helps to summarize the state of knowledge in the field up to this point and can be a launching pad for many people to clinically care for these patients as well as help to understand the pathogenesis,” Spudich said.