Senility and COVID-19 as two possible risk factors for loss of consciousness: A rare case report.

INTRODUCTION

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Importance

More than two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is still grappling with this dilemma. COVID-19 covers a wide range of symptoms. Loss of consciousness (LOC) is a very rare symptom that can threaten a patient's life and blur the prognosis of recovery.

CASE PRESENTATION: An 89-year-old woman was presented to the emergency department with LOC (Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score = 3) without any history of the underlying disease and was immediately admitted to the intensive care unit. In brain imaging, severe small vessel disease was diagnosed by observing partial dilatation of the ventricles, sulcus, and hypodense areas in the periventricular area. Lung imaging propounded COVID-19 by detecting the ground glass pattern with 50%-75% involvement. After detecting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 nucleic acid by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, COVID-19 treatment was performed according to the national protocol. Finally, she was discharged after 26 days of hospitalization with partial recovery.

CLINICAL DISCUSSION: COVID-19-induced cytokine storm along with old age appears to increase LOC risk. It can be claimed that COVID-19-induced LOC can be considered as one of the symptoms of COVID-19 in the elderly population. Therefore, more attention should be paid to this population, which is more at risk.

CONCLUSION

Few reports illustrate the LOC as a COVID-19 presentation. This report highlights the fact that older people are more at risk for COVID-19-induced LOC than other age groups and should be given more care.