Characteristic of Parkinson’s disease with severe COVID-19: a study of 10 cases from Wuhan

Zhai, Heng; Lv, Yinzhang; Xu, Yu; Wu, Yi; Zeng, Weiqi; Wang, Tao; Cao, Xuebing; Xu, Yan

Information about Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with severe COVID-19 is scarce. We aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics, outcomes, and risk factors affecting the prognosis of PD patients with severe COVID-19 infection. Clinical data of severe COVID-19 patients admitted at the Union Hospital, Wuhan between 28th January and 29th February 2020 were collected and analyzed. 10 patients (1.96%) had a medical history of PD with a mean (SD) age of 72.10 (± 11.46) years. The clinical characteristics and outcomes of severe COVID-19 with and without PD patients were then compared. There was no significant difference in overall mortality between the PD and non-PD patients with severe COVID-19 (p > 0.05). In PD patients with severe COVID-19, the proportion of patients with critical type, disturbance of consciousness, incidence of complications, white blood cells count and neutrophils counts on admission seem higher in the non-survivors. PD patients with older age, longer PD duration, and late stage PD may be highly susceptible to critical COVID-19 infection and bad outcome. The PD patients with consciousness disorders and complications that progressed rapidly are at increased risk of death. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00702-020-02283-y.