Inflammatory Neuropsychiatric Disorders and COVID-19 Neuroinflammation
Tang, S., Helmeste, D., & Leonard, B. (2021). Inflammatory Neuropsychiatric Disorders and COVID-19 Neuroinflammation. Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 1-55. doi:10.1017/neu.2021.13
Neuropsychiatric sequalae to COVID-19 infection are beginning to emerge, like previous Spanish influenza and SARS episodes. Streptococcal infection in pediatric patients causing OCD (PANDAS) is another recent example of an infection-based psychiatric disorder. Inflammation associated with neuropsychiatric disorders has been previously reported but there is no standard clinical management approach established. Part of the reason is that it is unclear what factors determine the specific neuronal vulnerability and the efficacy of anti-inflammatory treatment in neuroinflammation. The emerging COVID-19 data suggested that in the acute stage, wide-spread neuronal damage appears to be the result of abnormal and overactive immune responses and cytokine storm is associated with poor prognosis. It is still too early to know if there are long term specific neuronal or brain regional damages associated with COVID-19, resulting in distinct neuropsychiatric disorders. In several major psychiatric disorders where neuroinflammation is present, patients with abnormal inflammatory markers may also experience less than favorable response or treatment resistance when standard treatment is used alone. Evidence regarding the benefits of co-administered anti-inflammatory agents such as COX-2 inhibitor is encouraging in selected patients though may not benefit others. Disease modifying therapies are increasingly being applied to neuropsychiatric diseases characterized by abnormal or hyperreactive immune responses. Adjunct anti-inflammatory treatment may benefit selected patients and is definitely an important component of clinical management in the presence of neuroinflammation.
