A new study suggests COVID-19 can cause several neurological symptoms in addition to respiratory issues. A Phoenix neurologist was one of the study’s authors.
Dr. David Wang with Barrow Neurological Institute worked with doctors in Wuhan, China to analyze patients' records from the original outbreak. The most common symptoms were fever and cough. But Wang said researchers found COVID-19 appeared to impact the nervous systems of more than a third of hospitalized patients.
"The patients would experience loss of smell or taste, or severe muscle pain," said Wang.
Wang said it’s important for doctors to consider that these additional symptoms could indicate COVID-19 when diagnosing and treating patients.
“"We should pay attention and ask these patients to be tested for potentially COVID-19 infections," Wang said.
The study is appearing in JAMA Neurology.
