This project is investigating the causes of neurological and neuropsychiatric complications in COVID-19. Image COVID-19 patients can suffer brain problems as a result of the infection. How and why this occurs is poorly understood. This project aims to understand how these problems occur and to develop strategies to prevent and treat them. The team will use in depth clinical, laboratory and imaging studies of 800 patients with these complications from across the UK, in comparison to 500 control patients (hospitalised during the pandemic with COVID-19 or without COVID-19). The questions to be asked include: in whom does COVID-19 cause neurological injury? Does it do this by invading the brain? Or by triggering excessive immune responses or interfering with the blood supply to nervous tissue? The team will apply their new understanding through the World Health Organization-commissioned Task Force to develop clinical care guidelines, as well as identifying patients for targeted clinical trials and ultimately improving patient outcomes. Project team COVID-CNS is led by the University of Liverpool (Dr Benedict Michael) and King's College London (Prof Gerome Breen). The Edinburgh part of the project is led by Dr David Breen (Edinburgh site PI), Dr Nadine Cossette (Recruitment PI) and Prof Scott Semple (Imaging PI). Co-investigators are Prof Alan Carson and Prof Andrew McIntosh. Related links COVID-CNS project information on the University of Liverpool website This article was published on 2024-06-04
