Table 1.

Recommendations for studies on neurological sequelae associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection

Study population should be clearly defined in terms of clinical or community-based cohorts, sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, linkage to external registries as a data source (e.g., mortality) As diagnostic and therapeutic resources/approaches are varying among and within countries and changes can happen over time, the study timeframe should be specified and linked to relevant information on the pandemic in the country(ies) of origin of the study population

Outcome neurological measures prevalent and incident neurological disorders (signs, symptoms, syndromes, diseases) should be distinguished. Clinical case definitions should be reported (e.g., diagnostic procedures, laboratory, neuroimaging, and other diagnostics tools used)

Time of onset of incident neurological disorders, from early signs/symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection or confirmed infection, should be specified. This would facilitate the identification of short, medium, and long-term neurological disorders

Outcome, non-neurological measures relevant measures that can be reported include duration of hospitalization, disability, need for rehabilitation or long-term treatment, institutionalization, and mortality

Missing information from baseline and follow-up, should be adequately discussed, including considerations on how they could have affected the reported measures of occurrence/associations, as well as in terms of effects on the external validity of the study findings