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COVID-19 Impacts the Mental Health and Speech Function in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 2: Evidences from a Follow-Up Study.
- Source :
-
Cerebellum (London, England) [Cerebellum] 2024 Jun; Vol. 23 (3), pp. 1101-1111. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Oct 20. - Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Limited evidence suggests that the SARS-CoV-2 infection can accelerate the progression of neurodegenerative diseases, but this has been not verified in the spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA). The objective of this study is to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health and motor features of SCA2. A follow-up study was carried out in 170 Cuban SCA2 subjects and 87 community controls between 2020 and 2021. All subjects underwent a structured questionnaire to assess the risks of exposure to COVID-19, the confirmation of COVID-19 diagnosis, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Moreover, 36 subjects underwent the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of ataxia (SARA). The risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and the frequency of COVID-19 were similar between the ataxia cohort and the community controls. Within the ataxia group, significantly increased HADS scores existed at the 2nd visit in both groups, but this increase was more evident for the infected group regarding the depression score. Moreover, a significant within-group increase of SARA score was observed in the infected group but not the non-infected group, which was mainly mediated by the significant increase of the speech item score in the infected group. Similar results were observed within the subgroup of preclinical carriers. Our study identified no selective vulnerability nor protection to COVID-19 in SCA2, but once infected, the patients experienced a deterioration of mental health and speech function, even at preclinical disease stage. These findings set rationales for tele-health approaches that minimize the detrimental effect of COVID-19 on SCA2 progression and identify SCA2 individuals as clinical model to elucidate the link between SARS-CoV-2 infection and neurodegeneration.<br /> (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)
- Subjects :
- Humans
Male
Female
Middle Aged
Follow-Up Studies
Adult
Depression epidemiology
SARS-CoV-2
Speech physiology
Aged
Anxiety epidemiology
Anxiety psychology
Cuba epidemiology
COVID-19 psychology
COVID-19 complications
Spinocerebellar Ataxias psychology
Spinocerebellar Ataxias epidemiology
Spinocerebellar Ataxias physiopathology
Mental Health
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1473-4230
- Volume :
- 23
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Cerebellum (London, England)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 37861884
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-023-01612-7