INTERSECTION OF THE NEUROLOGICAL SEQUELAE OF LONG COVID AND POST-CONCUSSION SYNDROME

Abstract

Two large public health concerns have captured the attention of the public and science. Diagnosis and treatment of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), which can lead to post-concussion syndrome, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which in some cases results in long term health ramifications. Traumatic brain injury care has made great strides, as it now includes groups previously overlooked due to seeming lack of severity. An evidence-based approach has led concussion care to focus on domains of symptom manifestation. The neurological symptom domain is significant phenotype, and objective measures, such as a quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG), have been used to monitor mTBI recovery. Acute SARS-CoV2 infection, agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, has demonstrated a host of sequelae even beyond 4 weeks post infection, bringing about Long Covid. Mechanisms still in debate, neurological sequelae in Long Covid, including fatigue and cognitive and memory impairment, significantly impact patients’ lives after COVID-19. Neurological sequelae of both Long Covid and post concussive syndrome intersect in such a way that their treatments and management could be similar, regardless of mechanism. Evidence for neurophysiological changes in both diagnoses suggests that objective measurement such as qEEG could be useful in the best management and care.