Psycho‑neurological features in patients with residual conditions after COVID‑19 infection («Long COVID», «Long haulers COVID») and their possible pathophysiological mechanisms

Relevance. The study is relevant due to the fact that patients have an increase in the number of clinical signs of the disease that persist for 60 days or more after suffering an acute COVID-19 infection.

Intention − to assess the clinical and laboratory characteristics of persons suffering from longterm consequences of COVID-19 infection in order to improve their medical and psychological support and maintain sanitary and epidemiological well-being in society.

Methodology. When conducting the study in accordance with its purpose, the search methodology was used to select scientific articles published in the period from 2010 to 2022 in the electronic databases Google Scholar, PubMed, Cochrane review, e-Library. The search query included keywords and their combinations: pandemic, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, long COVID, post COVID, long haul, chronic COVID, post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, postacute COVID syndrome, persisting COVID, COVID complications, SARS-CoV-2 complications, lingering COVID, pandemic, subacute COVID-19 infection syndrome, prolonged course of COVID-19.

Results and Discussion. The features of psycho-neurological disorders in patients with residual disorders after a COVID-19 infection are considered in terms of improving their medical and psychological support and maintaining sanitary and epidemiological well-being in society, and their possible pathophysiological mechanisms. Clinical manifestations and putative pathophysiological mechanisms contributing to the nervous system damage in COVID-19 are reviewed in the light of parallels with the pathophysiology of acute COVID-19. Relationship between race / ethnicity and COVID-19 was analyzed, as well as the facts that affect the mentality, and hence the mental wellbeing of society during the current pandemic of COVID-19 infection.

Conclusion. Given the scale of the pandemic, it is believed that even a small proportion of individuals with long-term COVID will create a significant burden of ongoing disease. Therefore, today it is believed that the approach to the treatment of patients with post-COVID syndrome should be customized in accordance with the diagnosed clinical signs and syndromes on the basis of current regulatory documents. However, the current understanding of the long-term risk factors for COVID and their frequency remains unsatisfactory to the needs of society, which prevents understanding the situation, as well as influencing it through implementation of the required medical and psychological interventions based on the available actual indicators.

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