What are the neurological symptoms of covid-19?
Covid may be primarily a respiratory infection, but a common symptom is “brain fog”—problems with memory or concentration—which can persist for weeks or months as part of long covid.1 And it’s not the only neurological effect.
Giovanni Schifitto, professor of neurology at the University of Rochester Medical School in New York, explains that neurological symptoms are widespread. “In the acute phase, common things like lack of smell, changes in taste, increase in headaches, cognitive dysfunction, and strokes have been reported, and there are effects on the peripheral nervous system,” he says.
Although these complications are more likely in people with severe covid—a 2021 study found that 80% of people admitted to hospital with covid-19 experienced neurological symptoms2—they can also affect people who experience only mild covid symptoms.3 These neurological symptoms were also found to be more likely in people who were older, male, or white and in people with pre-existing neurological disorders.
The most common neurological symptoms are loss of smell (anosmia) and loss of taste (ageusia). Studies have suggested that during a bout of covid as many as 68% of people experience loss of smell and 44% lose their sense of taste.45 But no evidence suggests that these effects are due to the virus entering the brain.
Other studies have reported a range of neurological symptoms alongside general fatigue. These symptoms are much like those experienced after a “mild traumatic brain injury” (as defined in one study6) or from concussion—including dizziness, headaches, seizures, stroke, delirium, and balance disturbances.