Neuropsychiatric Manifestations of Monkeypox: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The World Health Organization declared monkeypox (MPX), a global health crisis, in July 2022. Its symptoms include fever, rash, lymphadenopathy, myalgias, and fatigue; there have also been the reports of neurological manifestations and no data on psychiatric manifestations. In our study, we aimed to study neurologic and psychiatric manifestations in MPX patients. Our study used the TriNetX database to identify MPX patients along with their age, gender, race, ethnicity, and geographic location data. Using International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision codes for neurological, psychiatric symptoms, and diagnoses, we identified 331 individuals on November 22, 2022, who had neuropsychiatric signs within a month of diagnosis with MPX (n = 1,006). The most common neurological symptom was pain (17.3%) followed by headache (10.3%), while the most frequent psychiatric symptoms were mood disorders (11.9%), emotional issues (10.5%), and anxiety (9.4%). In this study, neuropsychiatric symptoms were present in about one-third of MPX patients. Physicians, neurologists, and psychiatrists should be aware of the potential for neuropsychiatric side effects associated with MPX infection in patients.