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“Long-term COVID-19” becomes an increasingly common reality
New research shows that more than two-thirds of coronavirus survivors hospitalized from the infection still have persistent symptoms after seven weeks, according to the Daily Mail.
Reports of so-called “persistent covids” have spread around the world, suggesting that while vaccines can slow the spread of the pandemic, millions of people could still face the long-term effects of coronavirus infection.
Researchers at University College London found that 69% of hospitalized COVID-19 survivors still felt unusually tired 54 days after being discharged and cleared of the virus.
Many also felt short of breath, continued coughing, or still showed signs of lung problems on X-rays.
According to the study authors, this suggests that “persistent COVID” is a very real phenomenon that can burden people and the healthcare system for months, if not years, as the virus continues to spread.
Overall, coronavirus survival rates are high, but an increasing percentage of those who have passed the infection and yet still feel sick, even when they are no longer infected with the virus and are well enough to leave hospitals.
For the new study, the researchers tracked 384 patients who were discharged after being hospitalized for coronavirus. On average, patients were hospitalized for six and a half days, but 14.5 percent were transferred to intensive care units. Most patients also had a chest X-ray upon admission to the hospital.
Some (15%) of the patients showed no signs of progression of the infection, visibly damaging their lungs. But more than half (56%) had X-rays that were “typical” for COVID-19 patients, showing tissue opacity and inflammation. Of these, 30 percent showed signs of severe infection. At the time of discharge, 62% of patients had radiographic readings within normal limits.
But the lungs in nine percent of patients got worse afterwards, and even weeks after they were discharged from the hospital.
Overall, 69% of patients still felt tired almost two months after discharge. 34% had a “persistent” cough and 15% said they were depressed.
A separate study found that one in five COVID-19 survivors are diagnosed with a mental disorder within 90 days of hospital discharge.
Of those patients whose X-rays showed that their lungs were indeed in worse condition than when they were discharged, up to 30% had higher-than-normal concentrations of certain proteins in their blood.
The researchers did not assess the risk of blood clots among study participants, but COVID-19 itself, as well as the protein levels seen in patients, are life-threatening factors.
“Patients who have COVID-19 severe enough to require hospital treatment often continue to suffer from severe symptoms for many weeks after discharge,” said Dr Swapna Mandal, a professor at University College London and co-author of the study.
“Understanding ‘long-term COVID’ is critical to helping people who have gone through this fateful experience get back to health,” says study co-author Dr. John Hirst.
See also: “Scientists talk about seven groups of coronavirus symptoms”
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