A new study confirms what we have known for a while now-symptoms of long Covid affect more survivors than earlier believed.
confirms what we have known for a while now-symptoms of long Covid affect more survivors than earlier believed.
The study was conducted in Wuhan, China where the pandemic began. Researchers found that close to half of all COVID-19 patients who recovered from the disease continued to suffer symptoms of long Covid more than a year after their symptoms were first diagnosed. The results of the study were published in The Lancet Journal recently.
The study involved more than 1100 persons who suffered from the infection between January and May of 2020. The average age of the patients was 57 years. The study found that six months after recovery, forty-nine percent of patients continued to suffer at least one health problem. Some of the most common health problems were respiratory in nature, and were present for up to one year after recovery. The most common problems of anxiety, depression and other mental health issues were much more common six months after hospitalization.
Overall, the study found that a year after hospitalization, Covid survivors had overall poorer health, compared to the general population that did not get infected. They were much more likely to continue to suffer symptoms like depression, chronic pain and issues with mobility. There was bad news for women in the study. The study found that women were much more likely to suffer poor mental health as a symptom of long Covid. Fatigue was found to be the most common symptom among long Covid sufferers with approximately a quarter of all hospitalized patients reporting muscular weakness and chronic tiredness twelve months after hospitalization. The Lancet calls long Covid a modern medical challenge, and says that long Covid symptoms like shortness of breath, chronic tiredness, depression and brain fog could continue to affect people across the world.