Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – Even two years following the initial infection, the majority of people who were hospitalized with the Corona virus early in the pandemic continue to have persistent symptoms, according to a new study, which may be The longest and largest, on the long-term follow-up of people with COVID-19.
The study, published in “The Lancet” on Wednesday, found that 55 percent of patients still suffer from at least one of the symptoms of Covid-19 two years following their infection, and this is an improvement compared to the percentage recorded following 6 months that was recorded 68% of patients suffer from symptoms.
Researchers from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital looked at the records of 1,192 people who were admitted to Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, China, and who left the hospital between January 7 and May 29, 2020.
The researchers examined the patients at six months, 12 months and two years following they returned home and asked them for a subjective assessment of symptoms.
The evaluation process used more objective medical tests, including lung function tests, computed tomography scans, and 6-minute walking tests.
Overall, the participants were in poor health following two years, and those reported that they were still experiencing symptoms of “Covid-19”, such as pain, fatigue, sleep problems, and a deterioration in their mental health.
And for patients who received stronger respiratory therapy during their recovery, they had more lung problems in the long term.
Participants with persistent symptoms frequented the doctor more than before the pandemic, as they had more difficulty exercising and rated the quality of life they lived as poor. While most of them have returned to work, it remains unclear if they are working at the level they had before their illness.
Dr. Bin Kao, co-author of the study from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, hopes the research will encourage clinicians to ask follow-up questions with their COVID-19 patients, even years following the initial infection.
“There is a clear need to provide ongoing support to the large proportion of people who have contracted COVID-19 and to understand how vaccines, new treatments, and mutations affect long-term health outcomes,” Cao said in a press release.
However, the study was somewhat limiting, in part because the researchers did not compare results with people who were hospitalized for reasons unrelated to “Covid-19” to see if they had long-term symptoms as well.
On the other hand, the research did not include more than one hospital, so the results may not be generalizable to all Covid-19 patients in other hospitals.
Noting that at the beginning of the pandemic, patients were treated for a longer time in the hospital than now, and this may have an impact on the duration of the person’s symptoms. Since the research was conducted early in the pandemic, it is not clear if the results will be similar in people who have been infected with other mutations later or in those who have been vaccinated.
Dr. Divang Sangavi, a critical care specialist who researches long-term COVID-19 and works with long-term COVID patients at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, hopes that future long-term COVID studies will include vaccination status.
“The only thing I know I can give safely to long-term Covid patients is a vaccine,” Sanghavi, who was not involved in the study, said.
He added, “When we compare unvaccinated patients with those who are immunized, and we see the symptoms of the long-term Covid virus, the patients who received the vaccine have less severe symptoms and long-term Covid-19 is less common for them.”
Sanghavi hopes that the study will help policymakers understand how important it is to fund research on long-term COVID-19 and build infrastructure to better accommodate patients in the long-term, noting that more doctors will also need to be trained in how to help people with long-term COVID-19.
While Dr. Kristen Erlandson, an assistant professor of medicine and an infectious disease specialist at the University of Colorado, noted that patients are not supposed to be hospitalized with Covid-19 until they develop long-term symptoms, and she hopes that future research will determine how long people who have not undergone treatment suffer. in the hospital.
