The Global Consortium Study of Neurological Dysfunction in COVID-19 (GCS-NeuroCOVID): Development of Case Report Forms for Global Use.
Molly McNett, Ericka L Fink, Michelle Schober, Shraddha Mainali, Raimund Helbok, Courtney L Robertson, Jorge Mejia-Mantilla, Pedro Kurtz, Cássia Righy, Juan D Roa, Carlos Villamizar-Rosales, Valeria Altamirano, Jennifer A Frontera, Nelson Maldonado, David Menon, Jose Suarez, Sherry H Y Chou
Author Information
Molly McNett: College of Nursing, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. mcnett.21@osu.edu.
Ericka L Fink: Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and Safar Center for Resuscitation Research, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Michelle Schober: Primary Children's Hospital, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Shraddha Mainali: Division of Stroke and Neurocritical Care, Department of Neurology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Raimund Helbok: Neurocritical Care Unit, Department of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Courtney L Robertson: Departments of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, and Pediatrics, The Johns Hopkins University SOM, Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Jorge Mejia-Mantilla: Department of Neuro-Intensive Care and Anesthesiology, Fundacio Valle del Lili, University Hospital, Cali, Colombia.
Pedro Kurtz: Paulo Niemeyer State Brain Institute, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Cássia Righy: National Institute of Infectious Diseases Evandro Chagas, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Juan D Roa: Department of Pediatric Neurology and Critical Care, Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Fundación Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud, Bogotá, Colombia.
Carlos Villamizar-Rosales: The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Valeria Altamirano: The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Jennifer A Frontera: Department of Neurology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Nelson Maldonado: Department of Neurology, Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), de los Valles Quito, Ecuador.
David Menon: Division of Anaesthesia, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Jose Suarez: Departments of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Sherry H Y Chou: Departments of Critical Care Medicine, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Safar Center for Resuscitation Research, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Since its original report in January 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has rapidly become one of the deadliest global pandemics. Early reports indicate possible neurological manifestations associated with COVID-19, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe, highly variable prevalence rates, and uncertainty regarding causal or coincidental occurrence of symptoms. As neurological involvement of any systemic disease is frequently associated with adverse effects on morbidity and mortality, obtaining accurate and consistent global data on the extent to which COVID-19 may impact the nervous system is urgently needed. To address this need, investigators from the Neurocritical Care Society launched the Global Consortium Study of Neurological Dysfunction in COVID-19 (GCS-NeuroCOVID). The GCS-NeuroCOVID consortium rapidly implemented a Tier 1, pragmatic study to establish phenotypes and prevalence of neurological manifestations of COVID-19. A key component of this global collaboration is development and application of common data elements (CDEs) and definitions to facilitate rigorous and systematic data collection across resource settings. Integration of these elements is critical to reduce heterogeneity of data and allow for future high-quality meta-analyses. The GCS-NeuroCOVID consortium specifically designed these elements to be feasible for clinician investigators during a global pandemic when healthcare systems are likely overwhelmed and resources for research may be limited. Elements include pediatric components and translated versions to facilitate collaboration and data capture in Latin America, one of the epicenters of this global outbreak. In this manuscript, we share the specific data elements, definitions, and rationale for the adult and pediatric CDEs for Tier 1 of the GCS-NeuroCOVID consortium, as well as the translated versions adapted for use in Latin America. Global efforts are underway to further harmonize CDEs with other large consortia studying neurological and general aspects of COVID-19 infections. Ultimately, the GCS-NeuroCOVID consortium network provides a critical infrastructure to systematically capture data in current and future unanticipated disasters and disease outbreaks.
