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Those who have survived a corona infection aren’t entirely out of the woods yet. Many patients suffer from symptoms such as fatigue and shortness of breath even months later. This is known as long covid. Researchers have identified two possible factors determining who will still suffer from Long Covid a year later.
Long Covid is a severe problem. That’s because many people continue to struggle with health problems even after overcoming Covid 19. In most cases, chronic fatigue, concentration problems, shortness of breath, and palpitations are the main symptoms. If such symptoms last longer than 28 days after a corona infection, it is called long covid. But why does it affect some people while others are spared these symptoms? A new study now provides possible answers.
A study of 289 covid recovered patients.
Luxembourg researchers from the Health Institute in Strassen looked at how Corona patients are doing one year after their infection. They didn’t just want to know what symptoms they had and what proportion affected them. They also looked at possible factors that could lead to a long-covid progression.
For the study, 289 participants were recruited when diagnosed with Covid 19 disease. One year later, subjects were asked to complete a detailed questionnaire about their health. In particular, they were asked about the 64 most common Long Covid symptoms, whether they occurred, and how long they lasted.
Six out of ten patients show signs of Long Covid.
About half of the participants were female, and the average age of the respondents was 40 years (±12.5 years). Analysis of the responses showed that nearly 60 percent of covid patients still had at least one symptom of the disease. The most commonly cited symptoms were:
Fatigue (tiredness)
Shortness of breath
Irritability
That means that six out of 10 people who developed Covid-19 later suffered from Long Covid – at least according to this relatively small study. About 54 percent of respondents also complained of sleep problems.
Who does Long Covid affect?
The data analysis also shows the two factors that determine who will suffer from Long Covid and who will likely be spared.
Covid 19 symptoms that do not resolve after 15 weeks remain for at least a year in most cases.
Patients with a moderate to severe course of Covid-19 are twice as likely to have Long Covid compared with patients with no or mild symptoms after corona infection.
Thus, the data analysis shows that Corona-infected individuals who had a moderate to severe course of the disease, in particular, are significantly more likely to be affected by Long Covid. And of those involved, those still showing Covid 19 symptoms after 15 weeks are likely to continue to have them after a year.
“Participants with a mild form of the acute disease were more likely to have still have a symptom and sleep problems after one year than asymptomatic participants,” says lead study author Aurelie Fischer. But patients with mild to severe diseases were particularly affected by Long Covid.
Mild covid 19 course is not so mild at all.
By the way, a mild corona course is not as harmless as the name suggests. The symptoms are anything but pleasant. They include:
Fever
Diarrhea
cough
stuffy nose
fatigue
One speaks of a severe course of the disease only in the case of persistent fever, shortness of breath, and pneumonia or if the patients have to be supplied with oxygen in the hospital.
- source: fitbook.de/picture: pixabay.com
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