Similarities between the neurological symptoms of COVID-19 and Functional Neurological Disorder: A systematic overview of systematic reviews and implications for future neurological healthcare services

Background:
COVID-19, a novel coronavirus, spread rapidly across the world from December 2019. While the main symptoms of the disease are respiratory, extensive research has realised evidence of a variety of neurological symptoms, both catastrophic such as cerebrovascular disease and benign such as hyposmia (loss of smell).

Aim:
To provide health professionals with better accessibility to available evidence, this paper summarises findings from a systematic overview of systematic reviews of the neurological symptoms seen in patients with COVID-19. Similarities between the neurological symptoms of COVID-19 and Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) were explored and the impact of this on neurological services and health professionals’ perceptions towards FND.

Methods:
This research was completed in three phases: phase one, a systematic overview of current reviews of neurological symptoms of COVID-19 was conducted; phase two, the most common symptoms of FND defined within key sources were collated; phase three, the neurological symptoms of COVID-19 and those of FND were compared.

Results:
Fourteen systematic reviews were identified within seven databases, published between 1st December 2019 and 15th June 2020. The results indicated (so far), that when compared, COVID-19 and FND exhibit many similar neurological symptoms.

Conclusions:
This led to a consideration of the implications for neurological healthcare services in the UK, and the possible change-effect on perceptions of FND. Implications may include longer waiting times and a need for more resources (including more qualified health professionals). Future research is required to explore how health professionals’ perceptions of neurological symptoms may change because of COVID-19.