Coronavirus: These patients are more likely to suffer 3 months later

18:00

Saturday 28 November 2020

One study claimed that some “Covid-19” patients with persistent mild symptoms who were left to recover at home were more likely to suffer from poor health after 3 months than those with severe cases.

Researchers from Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands evaluated 124 patients after several weeks of healing. The comparison was based on disease severity, lung condition, and general health.

In total, 27 patients had mild symptoms and 51 of them had moderate cases, 26 had been described as having “severe” cases, as well as 20 “critical” cases.

In most patients, the lungs recovered well, but the effect on other aspects of their health was more important for people with mild, long-term conditions, who were often left to recover at home.

The most common long-term problems were fatigue, shortness of breath and chest pain.

Three months after injury, approximately 22% of reported mild cases were unable to complete the six-minute walk test, compared with only 16% of critical cases.

Meanwhile, more than one in five (22%) experienced mild cases of depression after three months, compared to one in ten (10%) of patients considered “critically ill”.

In their study published in the Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases, the researchers wrote: “Since we found no radiological or functional abnormalities in the lung, infections, or exercise capacity, in patients with mild illness referred after three months, the explanations for the their ill health are not yet clear. This stage. “

Researchers say this group of mild cases does not represent all people with minor symptoms, but it does show that some Corona virus patients develop long-term symptoms that have significant long-term effects.

“There appears to be a clear subset of patients who initially experienced mild symptoms of ‘Covid-19’, and later continued with persistent long-term complaints and restrictions,” says lead author Bram van den Burst. “We found almost no abnormalities in the lungs of these patients. Given the diversity and severity of complaints and the reasonable size of this subgroup, there is an urgent need for further research into explanations and treatment options.”

All “Covid-19” patients discharged from the hospital were recruited for the study and patients with symptoms for more than six weeks were referred to the evaluation program by their GP.

Lung scans revealed that 99% of the cases experienced a decrease in “ground glass opacity” as the air spaces in the lungs fill with a substance, usually blood or water.

Chest x-rays of 93% of people with mild disease were normal.

However, more than a third of the patients (36%) had mental and cognitive problems after three months.

But while the lungs recovered within three months, more than two-thirds (69%) experienced fatigue, and 64% of patients had some form of functional impairment.

In the latest study, the researchers did not link their study to the unexplained “long-term Covid” phenomenon, despite the similarities in long-term symptoms.

Data from the COVERSCAN study showed that nearly 70% of volunteers reported damage to one or more organs, including the heart and lungs, four months after infection.

The COVERSCAN study is one of many examining the long-term damage “Covid-19” causes to major organs and includes 500 survivors.

Dr Amitava Banerjee, one of the researchers at University College London, said that 25% of patients had damage to two or more organs.

The two-year study is conducted by the Perspectum Medical Society, Oxford University Hospitals, the NHS Trust and the Mayo Clinic.