Frontal findings are frequent and may be a marker for COVID-19 encephalopathy<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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THURSDAY, Nov. 5, 2020 (HealthDay News) — One-third of COVID-19 patients have abnormal electroencephalogram (EEG) findings in the frontal lobe, according to a review published online Oct. 18 in Seizure<\/em>.<\/p>\n Arun Raj Antony, M.D., from the University of Pittsburgh, and Zulfi Haneef, M.D., from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, conducted a systematic literature review to identify studies evaluating EEG findings in COVID-19 patients.<\/p>\n Based on 84 studies (617 patients), the researchers found that common EEG indications were altered mental status (61.7 percent), seizure-like events (31.2 percent), and cardiac arrest (3.5 percent). Abnormal EEG findings were seen in 88.0 percent of patients and were classified into three groups: background abnormalities, including diffuse slowing (68.6 percent), focal slowing (17.0 percent), and absent posterior dominant rhythm (10.2 percent); periodic and rhythmic EEG patterns, including generalized periodic discharges (5.7 percent), lateralized\/multifocal periodic discharges (3.9 percent), and generalized rhythmic activity (5.2 percent); and epileptiform changes, including focal (5.7 percent), generalized (4.4 percent), and seizures\/status epilepticus (5.5 percent). One-third of findings included frontal EEG patterns. Patients undergoing continuous EEG studies had significantly more abnormalities than patients not undergoing continuous monitoring (96.8 versus 85.0 percent).<\/p>\n “A lot of people think they will get the illness, get well, and everything will go back to normal, but these findings tell us that there might be long-term issues, which is something we have suspected and now we are finding more evidence to back that up,” Haneef said in a statement.<\/p>\n