Patients suffering from hypertension and diabetes are more likely to be at higher risk of brain complications like bleeding in the brain, blocked blood vessels and stroke, according to a study presented at a meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
While it’s known that the virus that causes COVID-19 first attacks cells in the respiratory system, often leading to inflammation of the lungs and the risk of pneumonia, the study showed that the virus' impact can also be felt in the brain.
Researchers cautioned that COVID-19 patients with high blood pressure and/or Type 2 diabetes may need closer monitoring, especially African-Americans, based on the fact that two-thirds of the patients with critical results in the study were African-American.
"When your body is in an inflammatory state, it produces all these molecules called cytokines to help recruit the immune system to perform its function," said study lead author Dr. Colbey W. Freeman, chief resident in the department of radiology at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia. "Unfortunately, if cytokines are overproduced, the immune response actually starts doing damage."
"While complications in the brain are rare, they are an increasingly reported and potentially devastating consequence of COVID-19 infection,” Freeman said.
Source: Science Daily, November 18, 2020