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An Australian doctor says the coronavirus may affect a patient's blood system and could have caused strokes in a number of people aged in their 30s and 40s.
Key points:
- Coronavirus may be increasing blood clotting in some patients, says Australian neurologist Dr Thomas Oxley
- Dr Oxley said Mount Sinai Hospital had seen five young coronavirus patients who had suffered a stroke
- He said some stroke patients had been reluctant to go to hospital
Dr Thomas Oxley, head of neurology intensive care at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, said a small number of patients were "having brain complications from the disease".
"We're seeing an increase in the number of strokes that are happening in our patients presenting to Mount Sinai Hospital," he told 7.30.
"What we are seeing is a disease that is partially working at least by increasing blood clotting in the body, and that is why we think there's increased risk of stroke occurring."
He said while older coronavirus patients had also had strokes, in the last few weeks there had been a "spike of young patients".
In a research paper due to be published next week by the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr Oxley and his colleagues said the hospital had seen five cases in people under the age of 50 in the last two weeks.
One of the patients had a history of prior stroke.
"For comparison, our service, over the previous 12 months, has treated on average 0.73 patients every two weeks under the age of 50 years with large vessel stroke," the paper said.
It went on to say "the association between large vessel stroke and COVID-19 disease in young patients requires further investigation".
"It's certainly a small sample size and we are learning as we go," Dr Oxley told 7.30.
"We are hearing from our colleagues around the city that stroke numbers are up all around the city.
"It's still too early to know absolutely what the real numbers are going to be."
The research paper said a report "from the Wuhan COVID-19 outbreak showed a co-incident stroke rate of about 5 per cent in hospitalised patients; although the youngest patient in that series was 55 years old".
The Washington Post reports that medical experts around the United States have recorded coronavirus patients experiencing blood clots.
While research into COVID-19 is progressing rapidly, there is still a lot we do not know about the disease, which only emerged late last year.
Stroke patients reluctant to call ambulance
Dr Oxley said some of the strokes had occurred at patients' homes.
"We are talking about people at home with COVID-19, who may have mild symptoms of COVID-19, but are developing a sudden onset of large vessel stroke and then requiring to come into hospital as an emergency," he said.
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The research paper said one of the patients was a previously healthy 33-year-old woman who developed a cough, headache and chills lasting one week. When she started showing stroke symptoms, she delayed seeking emergency care.
"Two of the patients in our cohort did not call the ambulance for 20 and 26 hours because they were afraid of coming into hospital, and because we've been told that if you're sick at home, symptoms of fever and shortness of breath are the ones you might call the ambulance for."
He said anyone who develops the symptoms of stroke — "facial droop, arm weakness, speech disturbance" — should call an ambulance immediately.
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Topics: covid-19, diseases-and-disorders, health, doctors-and-medical-professionals, medical-research, united-states