Neurometabolic Therapy in Patients with Encephalopathy Associated with COVID-19

Abstract

The objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of neurometabolic therapy in patients with severe course of the new coronavirus infection of COVID-19 complicated by the development of encephalopathy.Subjects and Methods. A pilot prospective study was carried out with the participation of 61 patients with a severe course of COVID-19 complicated by encephalopathy. The patients were randomized into two groups: the study group (n = 34), the patients in which, in contrast to the control group (n = 27), received Cytoflavin in addition to the main therapy in a daily dose of up to 40 ml for 5 days. The dynamics of the general and neurological status was assessed on days 3‒4 and 6‒7 days of treatment using the NEWS (National Early Warning Score), Glasgow coma and ICDSC (Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist) scales. Additionally, the blood level of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) was investigated at baseline and on days 6‒7.Results. Patients in most cases were elderly or senile with a high comorbidity index (up to 4 points according to Charlson). The persistence of delirious symptoms correlated with their age and low SpO2 levels. In half of the cases (50.8%), the disease had an unfavorable outcome. In the study group, by the 6‒7th day of treatment, there was a significant positive dynamics of the general condition, assessed by the NEWS scale (p = 0.012), a tendency towards a faster recovery of the overall score on the Glasgow scale (p = 0.083), a tendency towards more rapid regression of delirious symptoms by ICDSC scale (p = 0.055) versus the comparison group.Conclusions. Given the high risk of an unfavorable outcome in patients with a severe course of COVID-19 complicated by the development of encephalopathy, the additional use of Cytoflavin is advisable since it contributes to the regression of the symptoms of encephalopathy and may have a positive effect on the course of the disease.