COVID-19 infection and survival in patients with spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage

Spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage in patients with COVID-19 infection can negatively affect their clinical outcome. From an overview of the current literature, the most common reported comorbidities were hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. A Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) < 8 at presentation affects clinical outcome in all patients; however, it seems that mortality for intracerebral haemorrhages in patients with COVID-19 infection is higher (consistent in more than half of patients) than patients without infection. Published data support accumulating evidence that patients with COVID-19 infection tend to develop extensive intracerebral haemorrhages that can increase in size more quickly than usual and lead to deadly bleeding. The current COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has spread worldwide with over 47.000.000 reported cases. Patients typically present with fever, shortness of breath and cough. In addition, some patients with COVID-19 presented neurologic manifestations, such as headache, loss of sense of smell, stroke and seizures, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 displays neurotropism and enters the central nervous system (1-3). Some of these neurological symptoms, like headache and fatigue, were related to COVID-19 infection, as they are flu-like symptoms. However, more severe neurological symptoms can be related to more severe intracranial diseases like ischemic stroke, spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) or subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) due to aneurysms or other arteriovenous malformations.