Although most people with COVID-19 get better within a few weeks, some continue to experience symptoms that may last for months after being discharged, or may have new or recurring symptoms at a later time. This can happen even if the initial illness was mild. It is estimated that more than half of those diagnosed with COVID-19 experienced sequelae known as prolonged COVID or long COVID.
The study was conducted at the University of Florence and the Careggi University Hospital in Italy and suggests that prolonged symptoms related to COVID-19 could be different in infected people depending on the variant. The research will be presented from 23 to 26 April at the European Congress on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), which this year will be held in Lisbon, Portugal.
“Many of the symptoms reported in this study have been measured, but this is the first time they have been linked to different variants of COVID-19, ″ said Dr. Michele Spinicci, the report's principal investigator.
According to the research, patients with prolonged COVID infected with the Alpha variant experienced different neurological and emotional symptoms compared to those who contracted the original form of SARS-CoV-2.
The researchers conducted a retrospective observational study of 428 patients when SARS-CoV-2 and the Alpha variant were circulating in the population. Of the patients observed, 254 men and 174 women, had been treated in the post-COVID outpatient service of the Careggi University Hospital between June 2020 and June 2021
The patients, who had been hospitalized with COVID-19 and discharged between 4 and 12 weeks, were asked to complete a questionnaire on persistent symptoms when they attended a clinical visit at the outpatient service, approximately 53 days after hospital discharge. In addition, data on medical history, microbiological and clinical course of COVID-19, and patient demographics were obtained from electronic medical records.
76% of patients reported at least one persistent symptom. The most common reported symptoms were shortness of breath (37%) and chronic fatigue (36%), followed by sleep problems (16%), visual problems (13%), and mental fog (13%).
Analyses suggest that people who suffered from more severe conditions, who required immunosuppressive drugs such as tocilizumab, were six times more likely to report symptoms of prolonged COVID, while those who received high-flow oxygen support were 40% more likely to experience symptoms of prolonged COVID ongoing problems. However, women are almost twice as likely to suffer from symptoms of prolonged COVID compared to men.
On the other hand, patients with type 2 diabetes seemed to have a lower risk of developing prolonged COVID symptoms. The authors say that more studies are needed to better understand this unexpected finding.
Researchers conducted a more detailed assessment by comparing symptoms reported by patients infected between March and December 2020, when the original SARS-COV-2 was dominant, with patients infected between January and April 2021, when the Alpha variant was dominant, and found that there was a substantial change in the pattern of neurological and cognitive/emotional problems.
When the Alpha variant was the dominant strain, there was a prevalence of muscle aches and pains (myalgia), insomnia, mental confusion, and anxiety and depression increased significantly, while loss of smell (anosmia), difficulty swallowing (dysgeusia) and hearing problems were less common.
According to Spinicci, “the long duration and wide range of symptoms remind us that the problem will not go away and that we must do more to support and protect these patients in the long term. Future research should focus on the potential impacts of variants and vaccination status.”
In a dialogue with Infobae, cardiologist Mario Boskis, from the Argentine Society of Cardiology, explained that “many people recovered from COVID-19 consult us for persistent symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, joint pain or cognitive disorders. The most frequent speech is that they feel that they are not the same person they were before the infection. The challenge now is to find a causal relationship between the virus and the symptoms. Its absence in diagnostic tests leads us to think of an inflammatory reaction, triggered by the virus that persists for months.”
There are many studies underway in search of the causes of post-COVID syndrome, “but in the meantime it is important to listen to the patient who suffers, rule out differential diagnoses and offer the best possible treatment,” Boskis said. “The health authorities in our country must begin to recognize this problem. A lot of patients don't heal a week. Let's hope that the story of ignoring the aftermath of the epidemics and pandemics of the past will not be repeated, for the good of all,” he said.
“COVID-19 and its sequelae have exposed the long-term consequences mark class="hl_yellow"bof certain infections and the urgent need to achieve responses from medical and rehabilitation treatments and public policies,” Dr. Karina Ramacciotti, a doctor in Social Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires and principal researcher at Conicet at the National University of Quilmes.
Since science evidenced the persistent effects of COVID-19, up to 200 symptoms have been reported in 10 organ systems, including the skin, brain, heart, and intestine. The recurrent core of these includes loss of mobility, lung abnormalities, fatigue, and cognitive and mental health problems.
Persistent or prolonged COVID is a term that encompasses several post-viral syndromes. As a result, there is no simple test to detect it. The diagnosis is based on clinical symptoms, previous COVID-19 infection, and the lack of an obvious alternative cause for the symptoms causing the new physical or mental ailment.
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