Early reports of COVID-19 indicate that adults experience a variety of neurological symptoms and diagnoses in approximately 36% of patients, including headaches, seizures, coma, encephalitis, and cerebrovascular events including ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, and cerebral venous sinus thromboses. In children, recent evidence highlights acute and long-term neurological manifestations due to other viral illnesses including Guillain Barre syndrome and neonatal microcephaly with Zika virus, encephalitis with H1N1 influenza, and acute flaccid paralysis with enterovirus-68. However, COVID-19 reports in children published thus far lack detailed information on the frequency and outcomes of neurological findings.
COVID-19 cases are rapidly rising internationally, with experts forecasting subsequent global surges and continued activity. Thus, it is imperative to accurately document prevalence and outcomes of the neurological aspects of COVID-19 specifically in children. Such data will serve to alert clinicians and families about the possibility that children may present with neurologic rather than "classic" symptoms of COVID-19 who nevertheless would warrant testing, and that neurologic events can occur subsequent to the diagnosis that may impact long-term outcomes (e.g., cognitive, emotional, physical health). The investigators anticipate that improved knowledge about neurologic manifestations in children will bolster personalized treatment and rehabilitation strategies to optimize child outcomes and inform future interventional studies.
