This comes as more research into patient groups and doctors into the medium and long-term effects of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which has sickened more than 30 million people worldwide and killed at least 943,000 people .
“As long as the current characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection are well delineated, the medium and long-term consequences of the infection remain unclear,” said Liam Townsend of St James’s Hospital and Trinity Translational Institute Institute, Trinity College Dublin.
A study tracking 128 participants at St. James Hospital found that 52 percent reported persistent fatigue when they were rated on average 10 weeks after “clinical improvement” from infection, regardless of how severe their initial infection was .
The initial study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, included 71 people who were hospitalized and 57 of the hospital staff with a mild illness. The average age was 50 and all participants tested positive for COVID-19.
Researchers looked at several potential factors, including early disease severity and pre-existing conditions including depression.
They found that it did not matter whether a patient was hospitalized or not.
However, they found that women accounted for two-thirds with persistent fatigue (67 percent), despite making up more than half (54 percent) of the participants.
People with a previous history of anxiety or depression were also more likely to be fatigued.
The authors stated that the findings showed that more work was needed to assess the effect of COVID-19 on patients over the long term.
“Our findings demonstrate a significant burden of post-viral fatigue in individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection after the acute phase of COVID-19 disease,” they concluded.
Long COVID
The study, presented later this month at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Conference on Coronovirus Disease (ECCVID), suggested that those affected are “worthy of further study and early intervention”.
As the epidemic has made its way across the planet, most attention is focused on immediate effects, measured by hospital admissions and deaths.
But it has become increasingly clear that the virus can regenerate long after a patient is “cured”.
Online support groups around the world have attracted thousands of members who are seeking help and advice regarding the ongoing disease.
In July, a study of hospitalized patients in Italy found that even after 60 days of falling ill, 87 percent were suffering from at least one symptom. Fatigue and shortness of breath were the most common.
Researchers at King’s College London, which is behind a large-scale symptom-tracking project, estimate that one in 10 people using the app still have symptoms after 30 days and remain unwell for a few months.
“We are increasingly seeing evidence of ‘prolonged COVID’, and fatigue is one of the commonly reported side effects. This study highlights that fatigue is experienced in hospitalized patients and people with early milk presentations.” Was. ” Southampton, commenting on the latest research.
“The emerging limitation of long COVIDs is that reducing community transmission is important, even among small groups of people who are not immediately ill.”
© Agence France-Presse
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