Association between COVID-19 and catatonia manifestation in two adolescents in Central Asia: Incidental findings or cause for alarm?

Svetlana Kopishinskaia; Paul Cumming; Svetlana Karpukhina; Ivan Velichko; Galiya Raskulova; Nazerke Zheksembaeva; Dina Tlemisova; Petr Morozov; Konstantinos N Fountoulakis; Daria Smirnova

doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2021.102761

Association between COVID-19 and catatonia manifestation in two adolescents in Central Asia: Incidental findings or cause for alarm?

Asian J Psychiatr. 2021 Sep:63:102761. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2021.102761. Epub 2021 Jul 10.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ International Centre for Education and Research in Neuropsychiatry, Samara State Medical University, Samara, Russia; Department of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Neurorehabilitation, Kirov State Medical University, Kirov, Russia. Electronic address: [email protected].
² International Centre for Education and Research in Neuropsychiatry, Samara State Medical University, Samara, Russia; Department of Nuclear Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Department of Psychiatry, Narcology, Psychotherapy and Clinical Psychology, Samara State Medical University, Samara, Russia. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ Kuban State Medical University, Krasnodar, Russia. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ Nuclear Medicine Department, University Medical Center, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁶ Regional Children's Clinical Hospital, Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁷ Regional Children's Clinical Hospital, Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁸ International Centre for Education and Research in Neuropsychiatry, Samara State Medical University, Samara, Russia; Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Advanced Medical Studies, Russian National Medical Research University n.a. Pirogov, Moscow, Russia. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁹ International Centre for Education and Research in Neuropsychiatry, Samara State Medical University, Samara, Russia; 3rd Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁰ International Centre for Education and Research in Neuropsychiatry, Samara State Medical University, Samara, Russia; Department of Psychiatry, Narcology, Psychotherapy and Clinical Psychology, Samara State Medical University, Samara, Russia. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 34271538
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2021.102761

Abstract

Catatonia is a rare neuropsychiatric syndrome that can accompany various medical conditions, including schizophrenia, autoimmune encephalitis, and infectious diseases. We present two cases of catatonia in males aged 12 and 17 years from Central Asia who tested positive for SARS-Cov-2 antibodies. Detailed medical assessments declined other potential precipitating factors, including schizophrenia or anti-NMDA receptor autoimmune encephalitis. FDG-PET in the younger patient demonstrated focal hypometabolism in left frontotemporal and right associative visual cortex, matching patterns previously seen in adults with catatonia. These isolated findings raise concerns about a possible causal relationship between COVID-19 infection and risk of catatonia manifestation in adolescents.

Keywords: COVID-19; Catatonia; FDG-PET; Frontotemporal cortex; Neuropsychiatric complications; Psychomotor symptoms.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Anti-N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Encephalitis*
Asia
COVID-19*
Catatonia* / etiology
Humans
Incidental Findings
Male
SARS-CoV-2